


Janitors and Buttercups

by dyonisia96



Series: All that's left [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bros Fluff, Chara is a little creepy... sometimes, Chara is neither good nor bad, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Judgement, POV Sans (Undertale), Poison, SOUL absorption, Sans as the Judge, Scientist W. D. Gaster, Self-Hatred, Thank God Papyrus is there (part2), Undyne tries to do things her way, W. D. Gaster is not related to Skelebros, forced soul absorption, how to train your blaster
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-01-15 16:30:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 61,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18502729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyonisia96/pseuds/dyonisia96
Summary: Sans tries to put his life back together after Gaster's death. No one remembers the doctor, except for the creepy human kid that the Dreemurs have decided to adopt. While Sans is having fun being the Judge, Chara comes up with a plan to save monsterkind. Too bad that it's a really stupid plan, and Sans has to try to prevent her from making a big mistake.





	1. It makes you special (1/2)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my take on Sans being the Judge. I hope you'll like this!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little long, so I decided to split it into two parts. Enjoy :) Comments are always much appreciated, and thanks for reading!

“here we go.” Sans petted the Blaster’s skull, and the beast tried to bite him only once. Oh, sweet progress. At least it hadn’t tried to eat him like last time. “good… ehm… bone?”

The Blaster looked at him in the way that made Sans feel extremely small, and the little skeleton sighed.

“fine, i get it, flattery doesn’t work with ya. but please… these selections are like… in two days. if i get out there and you come out and blast them all dead, you’ll be stuck in a cell with me whining all the time because i’m feeling guilty. so please… could you just give me this one and be at least _manageable_? ‘m begging here, pal.”

The skull seemed to reflect on Sans’s proposal for a while. It had to protect its owner from danger, and Sans, according to the Blaster, was really dismissive about what was dangerous for his life or not.

For example, that fly that was just then walking on Sans’s hat… it could have had really bad intentions. And Sans hadn’t even noticed it! That was just one of the many instances Sans didn’t care enough about himself. And, for the Blaster, there wasn’t many difference between the life of a fly or a monster. If they were a menace, they had to be eradicated.

But, since Sans would have been sad, if the Blaster suddenly relieved him of all his friends, it was going to do what its master wanted. Just this once.

The skull nodded, and Sans felt as if a crushing weight had just been lifted from his shoulders.

“oh, thank you. aren’t you a sweet, horrifying little thing.”

The Blaster let out a warning growl, and Sans rolled his eye lights. “fine. no jokes, mr.grumpybutt. since you don’t wanna talk so much, we’ll try to blast a few trees, okay? so we’ll test if you can actually control yourself- and don’t look so happy! i’ve said only a FEW trees. at this rate, someone’s goin’ to notice that half of Snowdin’s forest has gone missing. so, keep it under the radar. okay?”

The Blaster got even more annoyed and it felt the impulse to give Sans a bite, just to put some salt into that skull of his, but it contained itself.

“i know we despise each other, but this is better for the both of us, believe me” continued Sans, giving the Blaster a crooked look. “so, if you want, you can try to aim at that pine tree over there… and let’s see if you can avoid to drain me. you can take it as a challenge, if you want.”

A high-pitched, whirring noise came from the skull, as it gathered little light particles from the air, condensing them into its maw. Sans could feel the Blaster tap into his magic reserves, and a faint trembling instantly pervaded his hands.

The skull fired, and a blinding white light hit the pine tree. The poor thing didn’t stand a chance, and it got crushed in the impact, leaving only a smoking stump.

At that point, Sans would have usually fell in the snow, panting like after a long run – not that he knew what that was like… he didn’t RUN – but that time he managed to keep standing.

“that’s… that’s good!” he said, smiling at the Blaster. The skull snorted. Only good? That was excellent, at least. Sans was always so stingy with compliments. “you didn’t even make me faint. that’s _really_ good!”

The Blaster grunted, as Sans mindlessly petted its cranium, while chattering to himself.

“i hope it’ll be this easy to control even under pressure… but, heh, i doubt it. anyways, i just gotta stay calm and breathe, and everything’s gonna be alri-“

“SANS!!”

The Blaster turned instantly towards the noise source.

“no! don’t-“

The skull fired instantly, without giving Sans a chance to stop it.

“… sh-shoot…” The little skeleton covered his eye sockets with his bony hands, too horrified to try to look. He didn’t want to see his brother’s smile turned into a mountain of grey confetti. “oh no… no, no, no…”

He slowly peeked, his soul thumping so hard that it was mind-numbing. Sans had always been so careful to not be followed… he had been trying so hard to control himself! And what he had been trying to avoid had happened anyway.

“ _pap_?”

There was no track left of his brother.

“p-papyrus?”

Sans was feeling like the world was crumbling under his feet. He fell on his knees, and stared blankly at the melted snow.

_it can’t be. this must be some kinda twisted dream. yea… just one of my nightmares… wakin’ up… any second now…_

Sans started to sob, and he was so caught up in his desperation, that he didn’t notice the muffled laughing coming from a bush nearby.

 

“Poor Sans. We should tell him” whispered Papyrus. He didn’t like this idea anymore. He turned towards Undyne. The captain of the Royal Guard was pressing one of her clawed hands on her mouth to not let her laugh out. It wasn’t working really well. “Undyne, please. The prank has gone too far… he’s going to have a soul attack if we don’t tell him everything is okay.”

“Oh, come on, Pap! Look at him! This is just payback for being so secretive with you! If he had told you what he was doing out here, sneaking out every day, making you worried sick, this would’ve never happened! It’s just karma!”

But then she looked at the whimpering ball on the ground, and even she had to admit that its whines were a little too heartbreaking to keep on pretending.

“Well… yes, maybe you should-“

She didn’t need to finish the phrase. Papyrus exited their hiding spot and ran towards Sans.

The tall skeleton kneeled in front of his brother and put a hand on his back.

“IT’S FINE, BROTHER! IT WAS JUST… I’M SORRY, I SHOULD HAVE COME OUT INSTANTLY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I DIDN’T MEAN TO UPSET YOU SO MUCH!”

Sans, whose skull was covered in tears, looked at Papyrus as if he had been a hallucination. Then, he just collapsed in the snow.

“Sans!”

Undyne got out of the bush and reached the two brothers. Papyrus was patting worriedly on Sans’s face, trying to wake him up. The little skeleton moaned and opened his eye sockets as if he had been an animal blinded by a strong light.

“wha… what happened?”

“ERM… NOTHING, BROTHER. EVERYTHING’S ALRIGHT. Come here, let me hug you.”

Papyrus held Sans in a tight embrace, and the little skeleton didn’t oppose any resistance, mopping away the wetness on his skull. What was that? Snow?

“did i… faint, or something?”

Papyrus was feeling so ashamed. He had been really angry with Sans, but now he could barely look at his face. Why had he agreed to Undyne’s plan? He should have known that the Captain wasn’t the best when it came about emotional advice.

“YES, you were- ehm- VERY TIRED, BROTHER! BUT NOW YOU ARE FINE. UHM- WHY DON’T WE GO- UH… BACK TO OUR HOUSE? I’LL GET YOU SOME OF THOSE CHIPS YOU LIKE SO MUCH, AND YOU CAN WATCH TV ALL AFTERNOON, I WON’T NAG YOU ABOUT IT.”

Sans was perplexed. He couldn’t understand where all that sudden kindness came from, but he wasn’t going to complain about it. He nodded and tried to stand up. His knees felt unsteady, and his soul ached a little.

Sans tried to piece together what had just happened, but his mind was too foggy. He knew that everything was alright now, but also that he had gotten scared beyond reason. Sans wasn’t sure he wanted to know why.

He noticed just then the familiar shape of a shining armor, and he gave a trembling smile to Undyne. The Captain was unusually silent, and was staring at him with guilty eyes. Her smile was a little bit too wide.

“hello, undyne. how’re ya doin’?” asked Sans, trying to break the tension.

She coughed. “HAHA- ehm… good. Thanks. And you, little dork? Are you all in one piece?”

Sans felt both Undyne and Papyrus check him before he could answer.

“whoa, whoa! what’s this all about? i was gonna tell ya… this lack of trust wounds me, guys.”

“I’M SORRY, BROTHER. I WAS JUST REALLY WORRIED. YOU, UHM, COLLAPSED.“

“Even I got worried” said Undyne, giving Sans a little tap on his forehead. “And I’m not easily scared, you know.”

“little ol’ me scared ya?” Sans felt even more confused, then his eye sockets widened. Of course they were scared. They had seen the Blaster, hadn’t they? “guys… uhm… i’m really sorry i didn’t show ya the blaster before, but even i was tryna figure out how it worked. i managed just now to control it a little. and- huh. weird, i feel like what happened has to do with the blaster-“

“OH, NO, BROTHER! WE AREN’T SCARED ABOUT THAT AT ALL! WE WERE JUST WORRYING FOR YOU! ISN’T THAT TRUE, UNDYNE?”

“Of course! More true than this- it would be deadly!”

“VERY DEADLY INDEED. SERIOUSLY, BROTHER, THERE’S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. WE JUST GOT SCARED BECAUSE YOU FAINTED, THAT’S ALL.”

“oh. so it drained me again.” Sans sighed. “and i thought it was goin’ to listen to me, for once. this magic thing… is really hard to control, ya know? it’s connected to my emotions, and if i don’t keep them in check, it flares like crazy. that’s why i was exercisin’ here in the forest. i was hopin’ to get the hang of it… and i didn’t want you to see it, because i was afraid that you were going to… ya know… think that i was monstrous or somethin’, and send me away.”

Papyrus’ features softened. “S-so that’s why… SEND YOU WHERE, BROTHER? YOU KNOW I WOULD NEVER DO THAT, RIGHT? IN FACT- oh, God, I can’t stand this! I have to tell you the truth! The fact is that me and Undyne have done a very stupid prank to you and you almost had a soul attack and-“

“AHAHAH PAPYRUS- what a funny guy you are!” Undyne closed Papyrus’ mouth before he could get all the confession out, and gave the tall skeleton an admonishing look. “Sans, you haven’t done anything bad, anyway. Papyrus is right about that. You have just been really secretive, and he was worried sick, so we thought-“

Something clicked inside Sans’s mind, and his confused smile drooped.

“wait… i remember, now… i thought i had just blasted you! i thought… and you _let_ me think THAT! both of you!” Sans stood up, shaking his head in disbelief. “oh, god… how could you?!”

“SANS, BROTHER, I’M SO SORRY- PLEASE FORGIVE-“

“sorry doesn’t cut it! you scared me to death!”

That was why his soul was aching. Sans had believed, even if it had been only for a few seconds- he had believed that-

Those two childish morons!

Papyrus put a hand on Sans’s shoulder. He was trembling softly.

“Brother, I can’t say how sorry I am. I didn’t want to push you this way, but… but I was so worried about you- you never tell me anything!”

“i tell you _enough_. and… anyways, this isn’t a good reason to scare me like that! i… i just need to be alone for a while.”

“SANS, WAIT-“

“no. i just _can’t,_ now, paps. but don’t worry… after all, ‘m gonna leave you in good hands, right? so you can laugh your asses of in peace!” Sans tightened his fists, trying to control the anger. “see ya when i manage to calm down. don’t look for me.”

“Sans, don’t-“

Sans shook his head, not wanting to hear another word, and ran towards the pine trees along the snowy road that lead in the heart of the forest.

He had never been so angry, and it was dangerous to stay around people, if he was feeling that way. If the Blaster had come out right now, it would’ve destroyed everything for real.

Sans turned the angle and vanished into thin air.

 

 

It took Sans a few seconds to understand that he was now sitting on a fallen tree in the midst of the forest, a few kilometers away from where he had decided to practice his magic.

Sans felt a little dizzy and he slouched on the tree trunk, massaging his chest to soothe himself. The ache in his soul was still there, the area around the scar throbbing in an uncomfortable way.

Those two, immature…

The sole idea of what they had done was enough to awaken that buried red feeling that always slept at the bottom of his soul. Sans pinched the zone above his nasal cavity, breathing slowly to calm down. He had to let the anger go.

With every breath, he relaxed a little more, until he was able to think about what had happened without feeling the urge to scream.

Sans wanted to believe it had been an accident, and that Papyrus and Undyne hadn’t pranked him just for the laughs. It hurt to know that his brother could do such a thing. It wasn’t really Papyrus’ style to hurt Sans on purpose, though… maybe he had just been involved.

Sans sighed.

However, even if Paps didn’t have bad intentions, it didn’t matter. Papyrus was the most goodhearted person in the whole world, but he could be such a kid, even though he had passed the time for childish games a long time before.

As for Undyne… Sans didn’t know her all that well, but he had been happy that Papyrus had found a friend. Sans had no idea that the Captain resented him for not being completely honest with Papyrus.

But Sans had good reasons for not letting his brother see the Blasters. The fact that he had almost wounded Papyrus with that death-ray was enough to make Sans’s metaphorical insides twist painfully at the thought of what could’ve happened.

_maybe i should’ve explained him better what was goin’ on, so he wouldn’t have acted on his own._

Sans never liked to keep things from his brother, but he had feared so much that Papyrus would have been scared of him or thought less of him, if he had known the whole truth, that he hadn’t been able to do it. It was Sans’s fault too, if Papyrus had gotten so exasperated that he went to Undyne to talk about his emotional struggles.

And Undyne wasn’t… well, she wasn’t very good with emotions. She was more the type who solved problems by smashing them in the head with a spear; and the main defect of that attitude was that, once the initial problem had been destroyed, two new complications were going to take its place.

Sans’s fingers scratched the tree bark, while his thoughts quieted. His soul aches became bearable and faded, until they were nothing but a bad thought in the back of his mind.

“Rawwwrrr.”

Sans hadn’t even noticed that the Blaster had popped into existence again until it had started to chew on a sleeve of his coat.

“oh, no… you drooled all over it! pap’s gonna kill me, when i get home.” Sans grunted and tried to shoo the Blaster away, but the thing hadn’t any intention of leaving him alone. “’m fine now. i calmed down, really. i just needed some time to myself.”

The Blaster gave him a suspicious look, but it let him go; it hovered over the snow, patrolling the area for strangers.

Sans got down the tree trunk and followed the skull. “’m sorry i thought you hadn’t listened to me. i jumped to conclusions too fast, before.”

The Blaster snorted. It was giving Sans the cold shoulder.

“oh, c’mon… i told ya i’m sorry. but think about it: that’s what could have happened, if you don’t stop going off every time you hear a sudden noise. and we wouldn’t want to hurt pap, or anyone else… right?”

The Blaster stopped. It didn’t turn to watch Sans, but it didn’t even vanish, so it was listening to him. That was another, welcomed change.

_welp… we only needed to get me scared to death to convince it this isn’t the right way to do things._

The Blaster nodded sharply and finally turned towards Sans. It let the little skeleton pet him without even growling. Oh, so it had gotten scared too, huh?

“aw, see? you’re a murder-happy machine, but you have a heart too.”

Sans checked his phone while leaning on the Blaster. It was almost dinner time, and Sans’s stomach, clenched shut after the big scare, was starting to growl as loud as the Blaster.

“i should go home. tell paps ‘m not angry anymore… but also that he needs to think more before giving me these kinda scares! ‘m almost sure it was all undyne’s thinkin’, but pap let her do what she wanted. he needs to toughen up a little. he shouldn’t let his friends walk all over him.”

However, since Papyrus had very few close friends – probably only Undyne, to be more honest; the others, like in Sans’s case, were just acquaintances -, he was too afraid to lose her esteem, and had just followed her idea.

Sans got up and, with the Blaster floating in his trail like a hellish dog, he directed towards the center of Snowdin.

While walking in the snow, his mind finally clear, Sans asked himself how in the hell had he ended up in that part of the forest. It was really far from the point he had been exercising in. Sans couldn’t have possibly blacked out that long, not even in his anger. Besides, he didn’t have the energy to run all that distance.

“this’s really weird.” Sans patted the Blaster’s head to gain its attention and the beast let out an annoyed sound. “uhm… buddy, do you know how we ended up here, exactly? one moment before, we were with pap and undyne, and now… i don’t know if i can make it home, to be honest. we’re really far, i don’t have much energy left ‘n i’m outta candy.”

The Blaster scrunched its bony eyebrows _. Of course_ Sans hadn’t planned in advance. _Of course_ he was tired. Why did its owner had to be so moronic?

The skull landed in the snow, rumbling its disappointment like a pot on the stove.

Sans chuckled. “you can’t be serious. do ya really want me to sit on your head?” The Blaster whirred menacingly. “okay, okay! i’ll do what you want! jeez… cool your tits, would ya?”

The little skeleton climbed the Blaster’s skull with an embarrassing amount of panting and sweating, until he finally settled. Sans pressed a hand on his ribcage, wheezing like he was going to die soon. Maybe Papyrus was right: Sans needed to exercise more, if that little effort was enough to send him in hyperventilation…. But the urge of being healthier had vanished as soon as Sans had fallen into a sitting position again – his natural state of being.

The Blaster took off and hovered through the snowy trails in the forest. Sans looked around, enjoying the scenic route. He could get used to this. Just another way he didn’t have to spend magical calories with.

“this’s real nice, bud. why have we never done it before?”

The Blaster didn’t dignify that question with an answer. They passed the rest of their journey without talking much.

Sans was too absorbed in his own thoughts to talk, and the Blaster appreciated every last minute devoid of his chattering and unholy jokes.

The little skeleton was still trying to figure out what had happened when he had gotten away from the others, when he heard a clunking noise.

“huh? did you hear that?”

The Blaster turned its head and the whirring noise started again.

“no, bud. didn’t you just learn what happens when you fire before talkin’? let me handle this one first, okay? then, if it’s someone who wants to murder me, you can intervene.”

The whirring retreated and Sans relaxed, as he waited for the intruder to come closer. He had a weird feeling in his bones: a part of him already knew who he was going to meet with.

The clunking was interrupted by muffled screams of anger, and the Blaster followed them. It emerged on a clearing, just in time to see Undyne trip on a fallen tree branch and fall into a pit of snow. While she was struggling to get out, stuck in the snow up to her waste, Sans couldn’t help but laugh under his bony fingers. Then, after a deep sigh, he got down the Blaster and went towards her to help.

“Sans! I finally found you! I’ve searched half forest…”

“’and would ya look at that… ya succeeded. good job, captain. now, take my hand, i’ll get ya outta there” he said, kneeling in front of Undyne.

The Captain gave him a sheepish smile and grabbed Sans’s fingers. Her hand was big enough to cover the lower part of his arm. It felt really frail under her grip. “Uh… Sans, are you sure you can do this?”

“sure. no prob.”

Sans tried to lift Undyne up and, the moment after that, he was stuck in the snow too, with his shoes waving in the air.

The Blaster, that had been assisting at that pathetic scene from behind the trees, floated towards the two and gave Undyne a cold look. It was still angry for the stunt she had pulled with Sans before, but it helped her out of the snow anyway, so that she could take care of its owner.

Sans gasped for air and took off his hat, now soaked.

“uh… i didn’t think it’d end like that” he said, chuckling softly. “thank you for pickin’ me up.”

“Sure.”

Sans cleared his throat, and an awkward silence fell between them. It was Undyne who broke it first, since she couldn’t bare the pressure anymore.

“Listen, Sans-“

He lifted a hand. “it’s alright. i… uhm… understand where you were comin’ from. you were just angry on paps’ behalf, and you wanted to pull my leg… for payback, or whatever.”

“I didn’t mean to leave you crying on the ground, though.”

“that’s just because i’m a pathetic individual who cries for nothin’.”

It hadn’t been exactly “nothing”, but prolonged anger required far too much effort… better let everything slide, so Sans could have one thing less to worry about.

“What I wanted to say, Sans, is that I’m… _ngh_ …”

Undyne gritted her teeth, and Sans’s grin softened. It was a physical effort for her to say something as simple as “I’m sorry”.

“… I didn’t want you to feel so bad. So, uh, I hope you, uhm… forgive me.”

“huh… i’ll think about it.”

“Oh.”

“c’mon, don’t make that face. i’m just jokin’ with ya. you’re already forgiven, fish girl. just avoid tryin’ to break my heart next time, okay? if you have a problem with me, just tell me. possibly without yellin’… but i know that i’m askin’ too much, here.”

Sans’s teases finally got through to her, and the melancholic expression on Undyne’s face was substituted by a more fitting angry smirk.

“What? Do you think I’m not able to not yell?!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.

Sans laughed, and that got her even more worked up. Before Sans could escape, she picked him up and gave him a shake.

“I’m not a loud person!”

“i tell myself that ‘m not a lazy slob, but… yeah, there’s not much point in denying reality, friend. just accept who you are.”

“You’re such a pain in the ass, Sans.”

“i try my best to be.”

Undyne stared at him with furrowed eyebrows, then sighed. Her grin became more of a smile, and she tucked Sans under her arm, as if he had been nothing more than a wrapped carpet. Undyne knew the roads in the forest better than most people, since she periodically checked on the work of the sentinels in Snowdin, and she took the way that led to the center of the little town.

Sans was starting to doze off – emotions always worn him out, they were such pesky things -, when Undyne’s loud voice woke him from his now peaceful state, anchoring him brutally to reality.

“So, where does that magic of yours come from?” she asked. “I would’ve never imagined that a wimp like you could muster up so much energy. That thing, the skull… it was really badass! Where can I get one of those things too?”

“i’m sure that they have a spare one at the bunny shop, if you check. they keep it on the back, though, so no one can see it.”

Undyne lit up. “Really?”

“no.”

The captain threw a laughing Sans in a pile of snow, and the little skeleton continued to laugh, without caring about being stuck again.

“I don’t know how Papyrus puts up with you!” she grunted, taking out her anger on a very unlucky rock. The thing landed thirty meters away after one of Undyne’s mighty kicks, and Sans was glad it hadn’t been his head. “You’re… not annoying… you’re infuriating!”

“that’s just because you have a very bad temper.”

“I DON’T HAVE A BAD TEMPE-“

The window of the Librarby nearby swung open, and the librarbian stuck his nose out, a grimace on his elongated face. “WOULD YOU TWO STOP YELLING? There are people here that are trying to do something productive! So, if you have to scream like gutted pigs, go somewhere else! God, kids these days!”

The window shut closed, and Sans and Undyne stood there for a moment, asking themselves if that had really happened or if they had just imagined it.

The Captain took Sans from the neck of his coat and scooped him out of the snow with her usual roughness.

“Anyways. Are you going to tell me what that magic was all about, or you’re going to keep mocking me?”

“i wasn’t mockin’ anyone. ‘m sorry, ‘dyne, really… it’s just that it’s too easy, with ya. i can’t resist. anyway, on a more serious note…” Sans took a deep breath and scratched his skull. “it’s a very complicated story, but, to make it brief, since i got my soul cracked-“

“YOU GOT WHAT?!”

The window of the Librarby opened a second time, and a paperweight swung dangerously close to Undyne’s head.

“WHAT DID I JUST SAY, YOU ILLITERATE THUGS?!”

Sans held Undyne’s arm before she could start to argue with the librarbian, and carried her in an abandoned part of town, hoping that they weren’t going to meet with Papyrus anytime soon. If Sans had to explain what had happened to Undyne too – a thing that he would’ve preferred not to do, but whatever it took for her to leave him alone, Sans was glad to accomplish –, it was going to take some time and privacy.

“could ya please avoid freakin’ out every time i open my mouth?” whispered Sans, sitting on a rock. He patted the empty space at his side, and Undyne sat down with a resentful expression on her face. “thank you. so, as i was sayin’, since i got my soul cracked-“

“How did that happen? Papyrus didn’t tell me anything about that!”

“it’s not that important. besides, it’s somethin’ i don’t like talkin’ about. what i wanna say is that, since that happened, my magic got all freaky.” Better not tell her about his nightmares. She wasn’t going to understand. Not that it was her fault… what had happened didn’t make sense to Sans either, but he didn’t like the idea of having Undyne thinking that he was crazy. He already did that enough on his own. “and i discovered some scary sides to it that i thought i couldn’t possibly possess… in particular, the blasters. and now, there’s also this other thing that i can’t really place, ‘cause it’s never happened to me before today.”

“What is it?”

“’m not sure. one moment i was close to you ‘n paps, and, when i turned the angle to run away from you, i found myself on the other part of the forest.” Sans gave Undyne an amused look. “didya really think i could run so fast, for so long? i mean… it’s really flatterin’ that you put me on your level, ‘dyne, but i’m a sack of potatoes. don’t really have any _muscle_ here.”

Undyne groaned at the pun, but then she nodded. “Well, you have indeed the physical readiness of melted pudding. It was weird, now that I think about it.”

“’n that’s just another thing on the weird pile, buddy.”

Sans sighed and leaned his back on the pine tree behind them.

“i wish things were easier. once upon a time, i only had my _seein’_ to worry about, and it was fine. now i have all this new magic, and i don’t even know how half of it works. it’s frustratin’, and scary.”

Undyne put a hand on Sans’s right kneecap, showing a sudden and equally creepy amount of interest.

“Papyrus had told me something about that… you can _see_ people, in a way, right?  Understand them. Like reading their minds.”

Sans had to make a serious talk with his brother, about not spilling his beans everywhere. At least not Sans’s beans.

“reading their minds! don’t push it too much… what i can do is sorta _feel_ people. it was the only magic i’ve ever had, until the other day. pretty lame, huh? i mean, sure, it has been helpful, but i couldn’t fight if it was needed, or throw a bone not even if my life depended on it. i only could understand what people wanted. their rawest emotions. i could _see_ more… it depends on how deep i wanna go, i guess, but i never went THAT far. i feel like i could lose myself into someone, if i tried to pry into the deepest parts of their mind.”

Sans didn’t even know why he was telling all this to Undyne, after talking about it only with Papyrus. But, once he had started, he just couldn’t stop. It was so much easier to talk about such things with someone he wasn’t very close to. Words came out in a stream, without him feeling embarrassed or guilty.

“So you call it SEEING.”

“uh… yea…? does it have another name?” Sans had never thought that _seeing_ could be a thing. He had always thought that it was his weird, personal stuff.  “other monsters can do it too?”

“Yeah. But it’s really rare.” Undyne seemed very excited about something, as if she had just received a new working out set. She took Sans by the shoulders and looked at him in the eyes. “Sans, do you have KR magic?”

“k… what?”

“Karmic Retribution. It’s a power… well, only a few monsters have it, and usually it is limited to the ones with your _seeing_ thing. KR can be used to wound in a fight, but it works only if the other person has done something bad, from what I know. If they feel guilty about something. Don’t ask me more! I’m not good at theoretic stuff.”

“hm. it can be used to hurt then… ‘m not sure, ‘dyne. i’ve never been in a true fight, ‘n i can’t tell ya if i have this thing or not.”

Undyne stiffened. “You. Never. Fought.”

Sans nodded sheepishly.  He had always avoided fights because of his low health - a single blow, and he was going to be dust. In the second place, he wasn’t really the fighting type. He felt uneasy while practicing with the Blasters on his own, and the sole reason he had wanted to control them was that he didn’t want to harm anyone.

Sans had used his powers for real only once, and that time had caused the death of a much loved and much hated friend. So, he wasn’t going to use them anytime soon to harm someone. Sans’s powers had always been about survival, not about having fun or trying to impress someone with them. That was another reason why he kept his magic secret. If everyone had known about his _seeing_ , people would have never looked at him in the same way, and Sans didn’t want any attention on him. Now, with the Blasters, the idea of being exposed appeared more frightening than ever.

“This is impossible.”

“’m tellin’ the truth, ‘dyne. never fought.”

She stayed in an astonished silence for a while. Then, a grin crossed her face.

“Well… then, we’re going to fix that right away!”

“wha-“

Before Sans could tell her that it was a really bad idea, the little skeleton found his soul turned green, and he couldn’t move anymore.

Undyne was now standing on the other side of the small clearing, a glowing spear in her hand.

“’dyne, please, don’t. ‘m serious. i don’t wanna fight.”

“Well, too bad. Because _I_ really want to. This way, we’ll discover if you have KR or not!”

“who cares if i do? ‘dyne, c’mon-“

“I care, Sans. Because, if you do have KR, a lot of things are going to change for you.”

“but what if i _don’t want_ things to change? did you think about tha-!”

Undyne threw a blue spear right towards him, and Sans stood there, unable to run away or even blip out of existence like he had done before. He felt a jolt of panic, but then, much to his perplexity, he noticed that the spear was proceeding extremely slowly. If that was a joke, it was in bad taste.

“uhm… is it s’posed to go so slow, or…?”

“I’m giving you the time to react, wimp! I know that you have the reflexes of a sloth, so… there you go!”

Was that her way to show that she cared? Sans swallowed and looked at the spear. It was getting closer, drizzling magical energy.

 _all it’d take is_ one _hit… ‘n she isn’t the most careful monster in the world. how do i get outta this?_

Sans struggled against the hold of green magic, grunting with effort. He only managed to make his soul hurt. It was stuck, holding him in an iron grip.

Sans tried to focus on his powers, but the most rational part of his mind stopped him. Undyne was one of the toughest monsters in the Underground, but the Blaster was an anomaly. What if it was too strong for her? What if she died?

“C’mon, what are you waiting for? Show me what you can do!” Undyne screamed, both excited and angry, since Sans wasn’t being as interesting as she had hoped.

“i… i… uh… i can’t-“ Sans felt cold sweat gathering on his forehead. He struggled again, and his soul gave a warning throb. If he pushed a little harder, it was going to hurt real bad. But what could he do? The spear was worringly close now… being slow didn’t mean not being dangerous. “’dyne, please, let me go!”

“Sans, I saw you evoke that skull thing before. You can do it again.”

“what if i hurt you?”

“I can protect myself, dummy! Why do you think I’m the Captain of the Royal Guard?”

That was true, but-

“please, just let me go! can’t we do this in some other way? i don’t wanna fight. please! you can’t force me to.”

“I’m not forcing you. I’m just trying to help you control this. C’mon, I know you can do it!”

Sans’s mind replayed that second sentence in a loop. “I’m just trying to help you.” How many times had the doctor said that to him, before hurting him so badly that Sans couldn’t even make it to his room by himself?

Sans wheezed, and his bones started rattling. He could feel the heat of the spear on his skull, now. It was going to hit him in a few seconds. What to do? What could he do? He was feeling trapped. His fear was making his soul thump faster and faster, and that wasn’t good. He couldn’t get scared. His emotions had to stay under control, or he was going to-

And, suddenly, he felt the now familiar sensation of magic swelling in his soul, overwhelming him. The Blaster appeared by his side, even though Sans had desperately tried to push it down. The beast shot a white beam that engulfed the spear, tearing it to pieces together with half the trees in the clearing.

Undyne laughed and dodged easily the attack, even more pumped up now that things were finally moving.

“See? I knew you could do it! And now, why don’t you try to actually hit me?”

Sans gritted his teeth. His soul was still green, he was stuck on the rock, sitting in an uncomfortable position, and his mind had slowed down to a crawl. The Blaster was begging him to let it tear Undyne into pieces, and Sans could feel the beast’s anger gnawing at his sanity.

“no… no, you can’t” said Sans, talking both to the Blaster and to himself. “just stay calm…”

Undyne gave him a confused look. She couldn’t understand Sans’s mumbling. The little skeleton had a blank expression on his face, and his bony eyebrows were contracted in the effort of keeping his magic at bay.

“This is a bore fest! Send something my way! Can’t you do some bone attacks, at least?”

Sans groaned and his eye lights fixated on Undyne. Some bone attacks, huh? That was more like Papyrus’ style. But now that Sans’s access to magic had been unclogged, he could try… that could be a way to let out some steam and prevent the Blaster from firing against Undyne again.

Sans felt a thin stream of magic abandoning his body, and a few bones materialized on the ground. Undyne jumped and laughed.

“What was that pathetic attack? C’mon, you can do better!”

If Sans had had veins, there would have been one pulsing on his temple. Undyne didn’t know what she was asking for. If she kept needling him that way… Sans was going to explode. He had lots of patience, but the Blaster was far less accommodating than he was, and its anger was intoxicating.

_why can’t she just leave me the hell ‘lone?_

“ngh… ‘dyne- just free me… _please_. ‘m askin’ ya kindly…”

The Captain smirked and evoked another spear. “Sans, we still don’t know if you have KR. I won’t let you go until we clear that up, so… you better land a hit on me before morning, or we’ll stay here all night. I’m having lots of fun, so, I’m not going anywhere soon.”

_shut up._

Sans sent another wave of bones her way. Undyne ducked and jumped like she was having the best time of her life. Her feral joy irritated Sans even further.

Just because she was enjoying this, it didn’t mean it was the same for him. Why did she have to be like that?

_that stupid prank before, and now this…_

But Sans couldn’t let himself loose. He just couldn’t. It would have been a catastrophe.

“Are you going to keep that thing of yours there, doing nothing? Do you plan on using it as a Giftmas decoration or what? Set it off, goddamn it!”

“don’t… tell me what to do…” Sans’s voice had become a trembling growl. He squeezed his eye sockets. He still couldn’t move, and the Blaster was already tapping into his magic reserves. It wanted to hit Undyne, and it wasn’t going to hold back.

“Hm. Maybe I got it wrong, Sans. Maybe you’re just too _weak_ to use that thing-”

“oh, god, why won’t you just SHUT THE FUCK UP?!”

Sans repented instantly of letting himself snap, because, in the same moment he had raised his voice, the Blaster aimed and shot, trying to delete Undyne.

The Captain dodged a couple of times, while Sans was still trying to get the beast under his control again. Luckily, Undyne couldn’t hold her green magic on Sans anymore now that she was spending it all in dodging, and the little skeleton broke free. He tried close the Blaster’s mouth with his arms to prevent it from shooting again, but the beast hit him with its muzzle and sent him in the snow. Sans hit his head on the rock he was sitting on before and instantly blacked out.

When he came to a few seconds later, the Blaster was still shooting left and right, and Undyne was hitting it with her spears, in an attempt to make it go away. She was now screaming, but not to tease Sans.

“Make that thing go away!”

“what do ya think i’m tryin’ to do?!” he growled, standing up. Sans almost fell again. He felt nauseated and his soul was shivering due to the continuous draining of magic. “it doesn’t listen to me anymore. i told ya the Blaster was dangerous! why did ya hafta force it out of me?”

Undyne didn’t have time to argue, because the Blaster finally managed to land a blow on her right arm. Sans froze in horror, fearing that the death-ray had just pulverized her down to the bones, but, much to his surprise, Undyne was still whole.

_how’s that possible? does it work differently, on people?_

“Sans! A little help here?”

Sans shook his head and jumped towards the Blaster a second time. He tried to close its maw again, and the beast almost bit his hands off. It was so angry that nothing was going to stop it. Undyne couldn’t dodge forever, and whatever kind of effect the Blaster just had on her, it couldn’t be good for her health, on the long run.

“stop! stop shooting! you’re going to kill her, like this!”

The little skeleton wasn’t accustomed to shouting, and his voice came out barely audible, in the chaos of the battle.

Undyne stumbled on a root, and fell backwards in the snow. She threw a few spears at the Blaster, but the beast had already aimed towards her.

_she won’t be able to dodge this! it’ll destroy her!_

In a moment of desperation, Sans jumped in front of Undyne with his arms spread.

“stop this! she’s a friend! please… _stop_ … you’re gonna kill us both, at this rate!”

Sans’s soul couldn’t take that rough treatment for much longer. Sans knew that if a monster pushed his magic too hard, going beyond his possibilities, the act would kill him by exhaustion. And, since the Blaster could activate without Sans’s consent, it would have just kept on shooting and shooting even if Sans wasn’t conscious, until they both turned to dust.

A high-pitched whine filled the clearing and light gathered in the Blaster’s mouth. It was going to fire. Sans’s body was all bone and cloth, but he tried to shield Undyne, who was still pulling herself back together.

The little skeleton closed his eye sockets, waiting for the hit. Not that he was going to feel anything. The heat alone was going to annihilate him.

However, instead of setting off, the whine transformed into a growl, and then vanished.

Sans slumped on Undyne, who had finally managed to free her foot from the tree roots. She grabbed Sans and gave him a delicate shake - as delicate as she could manage. The little skeleton opened his eye sockets. His eye lights were dim, and he wasn’t all there, but he was alive and well. Just a little shaken.

Undyne felt a wave of relief, and she patted his skull with a hand.

“God… that was a blast! You’re tougher than you look, little runt.”

Then, she noticed the red stains on her glove, and she realized that Sans’s skull was covered with hairline cracks that were oozing a thick, red blood, almost syrupy in consistence.

_Well, I take it all back. You’re frailer than a porcelain cup, friend._

“You okay there? How many fingers do you see?” Undyne lifted three fingers in front of Sans, and he moaned.

“if you could keep your hand still, maybe, i’d be able to count…”

Undyne sighed. If Papyrus saw his brother like this, he was going to get worried sick. And mad. Really mad. The Captain lifted a hand and, this time, she used her green magic to heal Sans.

The little skeleton’s gaze became more focused and the cracks reabsorbed, making his cranium smooth again.

“are you okay, ‘dyne?” was the first thing he asked.

“You’re the one who got hurt, idiot! How are _you_!”

Sans touched his head and smiled. “all good, i guess. a little traumatized, but ‘m used to that.” He sighed. “’m sorry i couldn’t control it. i almost hurt you. please, don’t ever force me into a fight again… i don’t respond well to bein’ cornered.”

“I saw that.” Undyne chuckled a little. They had almost died, but that had been such a great battle with high stakes! Ten out of ten, would do that again instantly! However, Undyne knew that she had messed up. “But mayyyybe… I pushed you a little too hard. I’m… ngh… _ugh_ …”

“sorry?” said Sans.

Undyne gave a sharp nod. “Yeah. _That_.”

The skeleton smiled. “apology accepted… but promise me you won’t do that again, okay?”

“God, you’re so boring… fine! I promise. But look at the bright side…”

Sans lifted his eyebrows. There was a bright side to all that madness? Really?

Undyne’s eyes glistened, as she patted him on the back with such enthusiasm, that she almost sent him flying towards the other side of the clearing. She showed Sans the arm that the Blaster had hit, and flexed her fingers. A barely visible purple glow emanated from her skin, and she flinched.

“that doesn’t look that bright to me. does it hurt?”

“Heck yeah!”

“oh, god, ‘m so sorry-“

“You don’t have to be! That’s what KR does, Sans! It’s kinda tricky, it gets to you with time… But it will go away soon. Guess this is the punishment I got for that prank I pulled on you before. God, this is so COOL.  I’ve finally found what I’ve been searching for, like, ages!”

The many things that sentence implied scared Sans even more than the possibility of another fight against Undyne in the future.

“what do you mean?”

She grabbed Sans’s arms and shook him like a crazy kid would shake his favorite toy. “I FOUND SOMEONE WHO CAN BE A JUDGE!”


	2. It makes you special (2/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans has a job interview, while he's trying to convince everyone he isn't fit for such job. His royal hirer has some things to say about that and he bribes Sans with tea and cookies.

Sans had to use all his ability with words to convince Undyne that, whatever she had been planning for him, it had to wait. The Blaster had consumed what little energy Sans had left, and he wasn’t going to be able to go with her anywhere. Besides, the only thing he wanted was to reunite with Papyrus and tell his brother that he had forgiven him. He couldn’t bring himself to be mad at him any longer.

_i’ve always sucked at arguing._

“where do you think he is now?” asked Sans, looking at the clock on the top of the Librarby.

It was far past dinner hour. Most of the roads were empty and the only signs of life where the Christmas lights flashing neon colors on the snow, together with the warm yellows and oranges coming from _Grillby’s_ windows. Everyone else had gone home a long time before.

Undyne looked around. “I don’t see him here.”

“well, thank you for this acute observation.”

The Captain didn’t get Sans’s sarcasm – obviously – and rubbed her chin with a hand. She was getting worried as well. “When we split to look for you, I picked the forest, and Papyrus your usual stomping grounds. It has been hours, though… Maybe he’s back home?”

Well, it was worth a try. Papyrus could have made her same reasoning.

They headed towards Sans and Papyrus’ house, the snow creaking under their shoes.

“’dyne?”

“Yeah?”

“could ya please explain me what this judgin’ thing is all about? ‘cause ya haven’t been that clear, before.”

The Captain slowed her pace and looked at Sans. “It’s kinda complicated. And you know I’m no good with words.”

Sans smiled. “i have faith in you.”

“Ugh… fine. What do you want to know?”

“you said you were searchin’ for someone who had the _seeing_ thing, and the kr, right? do ya want me to be some kind of… uh… executioner? ‘cause, if that’s the case, i ain’t-“

Undyne laughed to his face. “ _You_ , an executioner? It’d be funny to witness. No… you’d be just a Judge. The meaning is in the word, so… you get it. Right now, Asgore is trying to fill this role as well, on top of being the king, but he doesn’t have your _seeing_ , or whatever.” Undyne paused and sighed deeply, trying to put her thoughts together. Asgore had told her many complicated things about Judges and Undyne wasn’t sure she had understood it all. “Karmic magic is, like, really hard to find. There’s someone like you maybe once or twice in a generation. You are kinda born as a Judge. There’s no way to become one. You can try, of course, but if you don’t have the karmic magic, there’s no use. Judges can see through people, so they always give them the punishment they deserve, and never get it wrong. We’re not talking about death of course… it’s just prison, or helping in the Underground… it depends on the transgression, really.”

Sans highly doubted that Judges could always be right. Everyone could be wrong, Sans most of everyone else. With what he had done and the nightmares that plagued him… all that mental confusion… if Undyne had known about that, she wouldn’t even have considered him for such a position. Her moral was a little simplistic. She had always seen only black and white, bad and good, and nothing in between. That could be a sloppy and dangerous mindset.

“so, you’re born like this? like me? that’s… um… i just thought that i was weird. i didn’t think it was something that had a name. i don’t really feel like what you just described; the amount o’times i messed up is too big to tell, ya know? maybe you just caught the wrong _fish_ , ‘dyne.”

Undyne’s smile widened, completely unfazed by Sans’s pun. “I don’t think so, Sans. I have searched the whole Underground on Asgore’s behalf to find someone like you.” She gave him a pat between his shoulders, almost cracking his ribcage with her enthusiasm. “C’mon, smile for real, goddamn it! Don’t you get it? You’re going to be our new Judge! It’s, like, an honor! You should be giving a party at Grillby’s for this!”

 

_she’s already sure that ‘m goin’ to do this, huh?_

“heh… uhm… i’d rather not celebrate anythin’, ‘dyne. anyways, ’m always smilin’! can’t try harder than this.” Sans felt immensely relieved that they had already reached the house. Yellow light filtered through the windows, and a noise of pans on fire – or catching fire, probably – told Sans that Papyrus was at home. “so… see ya tomorrow, then, if we really have to go see asgore. and thanks for bringin’ me home. g’night!”

Sans’s hand was already on the doorknob, when Undyne made him turn around, holding his shoulders tight.

“Sans, I don’t understand you. This thing… it makes you special, you know? Aren’t you happy to know this?”

Sans felt a little warmth in his chest. Yeah, he should have been happier. But, since this Judge thing seemed to be very important and official, it scared him a lot. He didn’t want to be in the spotlight. He wasn’t the right person for that.

He just wanted to be left alone. Was it so hard for the world to give him some peace of mind? He was feeling like the Judge tag they were going to put on him was just going to be another issue on his already embarrassingly high mountain of problems.

“Will you give it a try, at least? The Underground really needs a Judge, right now. And Asgore has so many things to worry about. I’m sure you’d do a great job… besides, it’s not really a full-time thing. If you want to be a sentry so bad, you can still do that as well. I’ll give you a free pass, after the fight you put up today.”

_a fight? more like a disaster._

Sans chuckled, but it had a bit of sadness in it. “thanks, ‘dyne. it’s really kind of you, really. at least i’ll be able to stay with paps a little, since he’s goin’ to do the sentry thing as well.”

Undyne patted his skull. “That’s the right spirit. I think you deserve some rest now… but, if you want to practice with fighting, you know that I’m here!”

“heh… absolutely not.”

“I knew you’d say that. Say goodnight for me to Papyrus.”

“sure thing.”

Sans looked at Undyne’s shape until it became just a shadow in the snow. He sighed and laid his forehead on the door for a second, closing his eye sockets.

What a day.

 

The River Person’s boat was sliding silently on dark waters. The passengers were all close to each other, almost closed into a group-hug in order to prevent themselves from falling in the water.

Sans and Papyrus were squeezed in the front of the boat, almost reduced to one single heap of bones.

“i can’t… breathe…” said Sans, feeling as if his ribs were going to creak soon.

“THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN SURVIVE WITH VERY LITTLE OXYGEN IN HIS RIBCAGE, BROTHER. BUT EVEN I AM FEELING SQUISHED HERE.”

“heh…” Sans looked at the River Person, who was humming a haunting tune, their face hidden by a blue mantle. “’xcuse me, mr.person… how many stops we have left?”

He wanted to know just how much they still had to suffer on that boat, but the River Person just looked at him, the black hole under their cloak completely inexpressive. It was a little bit unsettling.

Then, they spoke.

“ **THIS WILL NOT BE THE WORST THING HAPPENING TO YOU, FRIEND**.”

Sans blinked and exchanged a look with Papyrus. He seemed to be as weirded out as Sans was.

“uhm… are you talkin’ about the judg… i mean… my job interview?”

The River Person nodded.

“thanks for the encouragement… i guess.”

“ **MY PLEASURE**.”

After that, the River Person resumed their singing, and they focused on the road ahead, leaving Sans and Papyrus with a chill feeling in their bones.

“THAT WAS… UNSETTLING” said the tall skeleton.

“you can say that, bro.”

The River Person’s boat stopped at the Hotland post, and a lot of people left to go to work. A new wave of workers who had their jobs at the Capital jumped on, and Sans and Papyrus found themselves even more squished than before. They rarely went so far from Snowdin, and they felt deeply uncomfortable with all those people around.

“i didn’t know there were so many monsters in the underground” wheezed Sans, his voice tiny and muffled under the weight of a green blob wearing a smocking. “sorry, sir, could ya please move a little?”

“BLBLBLBL.”

The thing didn’t seem very cooperative, so the Great Papyrus intervened and picked his brother up, holding him in his arms. At least there was some air, up there.

“thanks bro” coughed Sans, trying to get off some blob residue from his left sleeve. He had put on his less hobo-looking hoodie for the occasion, and now it was ruined. “i don’t think this’s goin’ to go away with some soap, pap.”

Papyrus sighed. “YEAH. BUT… AT LEAST UNDYNE SAID YOUR DRESSING HABITS DON’T COUNT THAT MUCH FOR THIS JOB.”

“i hope the king won’t mind if i look like i just went scuba-divin’ in a swamp.”

“I’M SURE HE WON’T. THEY SAY HE’S VERY KIND. THEY CALL HIM… HOW WAS IT… KING FLUFFYBUNS.”

Sans smiled. “that’s great news.”

They stayed in silence for the remaining part of the journey, looking around. Everything was new for the brothers, who had always lived in the outskirts of the Underground, near the Ruins. They had once been the Underground’s heart, but now that place had been taken by the capital, the closest place to the Barrier. Only the monsters who liked the tranquil life transferred to Snowdin. The little city was slowly dying, since the actual citizens could be counted on a hand.

Sans laid his head on his brother’s chest and listened to Papyrus’ soul beating slowly. That thumping noise eased his anxiety a little.

Undyne should have picked him up that morning, but, as the Captain of the Royal Guard, she was really busy, and she preferred to wait for Sans at the Royal Palace. So, Papyrus decided to accompany Sans to his job interview, since he hadn’t any intentions of letting Sans go alone, especially after what had happened yesterday.

All those people… they would have certainly crushed him to dust, if Papyrus hadn’t been there to protect him. They were all busy with their things, and didn’t have the time to look out to avoid stepping on Sans. Besides, the little monster was still on edge, and the Blaster could have decided to pay him a visit at any time, if someone had become enough of a threat to his life.

But, since the Great Papyrus was there, the Blaster had been really quiet.

Papyrus looked at his brother and smiled. Sans was staring at the Capital’s profile with eye lights wide with wonder.

“i didn’t know that this place had gotten so big! it’s amazin’. we should definitely get here more often, bro.”

Papyrus nodded, his stare losing itself in the contemplation of the houses almost touching the ceiling of the Underground. The crystal agglomerations were particularly shiny in the Capital and an intricate system of lamps floated in the air, sustained by magic. It was almost like being under the sea, with glistening jellyfishes swimming around.

Sans extended a hand to touch a lamp near-by, and it floated away, following the direction imparted by his fingers. He smiled, and it was one of the sincerest and most relaxed smiles he had made since he had been in the Capital’s hospital.

Sans hadn’t had the occasion to see this side of the city, back then. He had made the journey back home in a little train reserved to ill-people, together with Papyrus, and it had been quite a depressing travel, surrounded by monsters who weren’t at the best of their faculties.

Sans pinched Papyrus’ cheekbone. “hey, what’re you thinkin’ ‘bout? you’re so silent, bro. it’s not like ya.”

“IT’S NOTHING.”

“oh… is that so?” Sans leaned back on him. His eye sockets were half closed. Papyrus’ presence was like a warm blanket, and for Sans it was hard resisting anything bed-related, even if it was only metaphorically. “if it’s about yesterday, i told ya… i forgive you, papy. it’s alright.”

How could Sans always guess what Papyrus was thinking?

“Did you just _see_ me, brother?”

Sans chuckled. “i don’t need to _see_ to understand what you’re thinkin’ about, bro. you’re an open book to me.”

Papyrus smiled a little. Well, it was true also the other way around. Even if Sans did his best to hide when he wasn’t feeling well, Papyrus could guess it anyway. The only problem was that Sans, unlike him, refused to be honest about it… and it was extremely frustrating, sometimes. That was what had pushed Papyrus to follow his brother in secret.

However, even though Sans had been so careful, his secrecy had indeed caused Papyrus being hit by the Blaster. They had been lucky the thing hadn’t actually done anything to him. Papyrus for a moment had thought that Sans’s magic had just recognized him and didn’t hurt him because of that, but, after hearing Sans’s explanation about how karmic magic worked, the Blaster hadn’t hurt him mainly because Papyrus had never done anything bad – at least according to the thing’s judgement… admitting that attacks could have opinions.

“I have been really mean with you, Sans.”

“oh, please… don’t say that. you’re-“

“No, I shouldn’t have made you think you had blasted me. Not even for one second.”

Sans sighed. “i’m not angry anymore, papy. when i snapped at you, it was just a moment. i could never hold any grudge against you… i know you didn’t really mean to upset me so much. besides, it’s really hard to put up with me ‘n my way of dealin’ with things… or, better, of _not_ dealin’ with them. you have more patience than i do, honestly. what’s important is that you don’t play a joke like that on me again. usually i’m all for pranks, but- not of this kind.”

“I hadn’t planned on it, really. I just followed you to see what you were doing. I was so worried… and then, when Undyne held me with her behind that bush, I didn’t think that you were going to break down. It felt so horrible. And I’m so, so sorry.“

“i know. it’s the same for me, okay? i don’t like to argue with you or to make you worry… it’s the worst thing.”

Papyrus nodded and held Sans closer.

“I should have been more trusting. I know you can take care of your things, but… listen, brother. Let’s make a deal: I promise I won’t ever try to investigate on you, if you promise to be more open with me. How does that sound?”

Sans’s hold on Papyrus’ coat tightened a little.

“Sans?”

“okay. i promise. i’m sorry i’ve kept things from you. if i had shown you the blaster before, you would’ve known that it was dangerous to startle me when it was out.”

Papyrus leaned his chin on Sans’s cranium and felt immensely relieved.

“Good. Then, we can leave all this behind, if that is fine with you, brother.”

Sans’s hold relaxed, and he smiled. “of course, bro.”

 

When Papyrus and Sans finally reached the Royal Palace, they stared at it with mouth agape, eye lights wide in admiration and disbelief.

“this is… it looks like…”

“LIKE IT’S BIGGER THAN SNOWDIN.”

Sans couldn’t imagine how monsters could have built such a daunting structure. The façade of the palace was almost entirely made of amethyst, one of the easier stones to find in the Underground, and the decorations had been made with quartzes and rubies. It was beautiful, and it shined brightly in the floating lamps’ light, like an immense coral plant. A flag with the Deltarune impressed on it was swinging in the cold and hot winds coming from the heart of the earth, surveilling the whole Underground from above.

Sans and Papyrus were so absorbed in the contemplation that they hadn’t noticed a clunking noise getting closer.

“There you are, dorks. Finally.”

Undyne took off her helm, that made her even more intimidating than she usually was, and smiled to them.

Sans and Papyrus were taken away from their daydreaming, and gave her a confused stare.

“It’s cool, isn’t it?” she said, pointing at the Palace. The Captain put an arm around Papyrus’ shoulders and a hand on Sans’s head, taking them with her. “And wait to see the inside of this thing! Not everyone gets to do that, you’re two lucky bones.”

“heh… yea” said Sans, with a grin. “so lucky.”

Undyne rolled her eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re still glum about this.”

“HE’S BEEN WATCHING REPLICAS OF “OUR WOUNDROUS UNIVERSE” THE WHOLE EVENING, EATING ICE CREAM LIKE A SAD MONSTER GIRL.”

“papyrus” hissed Sans, giving him a look.

Papyrus didn’t mind him and crossed his arms, lifting his chin in a self-righteous gesture. “I AGREE WITH UNDYNE, BROTHER. YOU SHOULD BE HONORED OF THIS NEW ROLE. YOU’RE THE BEST PERSON IN THE WORLD WHEN YOU’RE NOT LEAVING A TRAIL OF GARBAGE BEHIND YOU, AND I THINK YOU DESERVE THIS.”

Sans sighed. There wasn’t any point in trying to explain them that this wasn’t about him thinking that he didn’t deserve to be the Judge… the problem was that he didn’t _want_ to. He wasn’t a responsible individual. He wasn’t good. He had caused the death of… Dex… Gas… dang it. He still couldn’t get it right. But the point was that his hands _weren’t_ clean. And Papyrus knew that. Sans had told him so many times that he was not good. But his brother didn’t listen to him, saying that it was all in his dreams and his head.

Sans had given up about making Papyrus change his mind, and he couldn’t tell Undyne about such personal stuff. So there he was, stuck in this new, extremely uncomfortable position.

 

The Captain guided them through the intricate halls of the Royal Palace. The walls were decorated with old paintings about how the surface used to be when monsters were there. When Undyne, Sans and Papyrus passed in front of the Royal Library, the brothers slowed down, hypnotized by the quantity of books that they could see through the open door.

“woah… so many…” Even when Sans used to work in the lab, he hadn’t seen such a quantity of written pages. It was incredible.

“I BET THERE’S LOTS OF FABLES BOOKS IN THERE, BROTHER!”

Undyne grabbed the two by their coats before they could get too far and put them right back on track.

“That’s only for the Royal Family’s use! You can’t go there!”

“BUT-“

“c’mon, ‘dyne, paps just wants to look at it. we won’t touch anyth-“

“Rules are the same for everyone! No seeing, no touching, no nothing.” She gave Sans a pat on the back of his cranium as punishment. “Besides, you’re not here to slack off! You’re here to talk with the king! Isn’t that exciting enough?”

Sans would have preferred to hide in the library instead of talking with Asgore, but Undyne was immune to the enchantment of books and all the things that were more whimsical than armors and spears.

“huh, right… i’m so excited.”

“You could at least put more effort in pretending you are.”

“i’m excited on the inside.”

Sans held his brother’s hand and brought him along with them. “c’mon, pap… maybe another time, okay?”

“BUT… what if they have Fluffy Bunny’s sequel?”

“uhm… well… i can always make one up for you, eh?”

That answer consoled Papyrus, and they moved on, crossing the Royal Gardens. An intricate play of plants and flowers ran through them. The main colors were the buttercups’ yellow and the green of their leaves. Not many other plants survived with the sole help of the light provided by monster magic.

The buttercups’ scent was intense and sweet, almost nauseating, after a while.  Little, shiny insects flew above the flowers, carrying their pollen around.

“You wait here” said Undyne, pointing a bench to the brothers. “I’ll go say the king you’ve arrived. Don’t make a mess.”

“you’re really untrustin’, ‘dyne.”

“It’s not my fault if you carry trouble wherever you go! Well. Almost never my fault. Anyway! Sit down and DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING.”

The brothers obeyed and looked at her as she entered a door. They caught a glimpse of golden tiles, before it closed behind her back.

They were alone.

“THIS GARDEN IS VERY PRETTY” said Papyrus, waving his legs excitedly. “I KNOW UNDYNE SAID TO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING… BUT, WHAT IF I TOOK A FLOWER TO BRING HOME? THESE THINGS DON’T GROW IN SNOWDIN.”

Sans smiled and checked quickly behind their shoulders. No one could see them. “’m sure the king won’t mind if you take some. there’s so many here. maybe you can try to plant them in a vase, if you like ‘em so much.”

Papyrus beamed and started collecting flowers. Sans looked at him, feeling peaceful. It warmed his soul seeing Papyrus more like his usual, happy self.

When Undyne came back, the younger skeleton hid the flowers behind his back, and Sans muffled his chuckles with his hoodie’s neck.

“Asgore’s waiting for you” said the Captain. “C’mon! Move your bony ass, it’s not polite to leave him hanging.”

Sans got down the bench. He grabbed Papyrus’ hand, and his younger brother followed him, still struggling to hide the flowers. Undyne stopped Papyrus by putting a hand on his chest.

“No. You wait here, Paps.”

The brothers looked at each other, each one of them feeling lost in his own way.

“WHY? I WON’T BE A NUISANCE.”

“yea, he can be quiet. sometimes.”

“SANS- I’M NOT NOISEY!”

Well, that was one point he had in common with Undyne. The denial.

“Paps, this is the king we’re talking about. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait here.”

Undyne untied the brothers’ fingers and took Sans with her.

“c’mon, ‘m sure asgore’ll like him. we’re a family pack, if i go, paps has to come with-“

Undyne gave Sans a stern look, and he sighed, lowering his head. Fine. This was official and important. No brothers allowed.

“okay, okay. as you wish, fish lady.” he looked at Papyrus and waved a hand. “be back soon, papy.”

“BUT SANS…”

Undyne grunted in exasperation. “Oh my God, you two! You can survive without each other for, like, half an hour! Asgore won’t eat him, okay? Stop with this sappy bullshit!”

And, without giving them the chance of adding anything else, she carried Sans in the room she had entered before.

A few people were waiting there, sitting in soft red armchairs. They were reading the last MTT magazine and chattering softly. When they saw Sans being dragged by Undyne, they lifted their eyebrows, asking themselves what the hell did that dumpy skeleton do to deserve such a treatment.

“’dyne, i can walk on my own! please, let me go!”

Undyne pretended to not hear him. She had the very bad habit of manhandling people too much.

Sans’s protests ceased when they entered a long, golden hall, intersected by two rows of columns and wide, glass windows. A strong, warm light engulfed the room, and the columns casted a clear shadow on the ground. It almost felt like bathing in sunlight.

Sans had barely the time to think that it was really beautiful, before being thrown into another room. The ground there was made of grass and flowers, and the walls were covered in thick layers of red and green ivy.

“Strike the old man dead” Undyne whispered in Sans’s skull, before pushing him forward with very little grace.

Sans rolled in the flowers, getting dirt and leaves all over himself, and finally stopped against a soft surface.

He let out a moan, bringing a hand to his head. Why was everything spinning?

“Oh! What is- oh. Are you okay down there, little one?”

“ugghhhh… feelin’ great…”

“What happened?”

Sans struggled to sit and massaged is aching skull. His sight was a little blurry. “’dyne pushed me…”

“Oh. Yes, that is something she would do. I am sorry. Please, let me help you.”

A big hand wrapped around Sans’s body, putting him back on his feet. It was soft and furry, with worryingly sharp claws.

“uh… th-thanks-“

The little skeleton finally looked up, and he choked on his words. He had never seen such a big monster in his whole life.

Asgore was towering over him, and Sans had to tilt back his head to look at the king’s muzzle. He was wearing a heavy, purple cloak, held firmly in place by a golden pin, and his body was covered by a shining gold armor. His thick fur culminated into a blonde mane surrounding his head and horns, making him look even bigger.

Sans always felt uneasy around big monsters, and he instinctively made a step back.

The king’s expression softened, and he kneeled down, his armor’s plates sliding on each other with a clicking sound.

“There is no need to be afraid, small one.” He offered Sans a hand. “I am Asgore, as you may have guessed. And you must be Sans, right?”

Sans nodded and looked at the king with his soul thumping hard. He hesitantly shook Asgore’s hand, and by that it meant that he held the tip of Asgore’s index finger, while the king gently took Sans’s bones between index and thumb.

“It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“uh… uhm… s-same. your… ehm… majesty.”

Sans remembered that he had to show some sort of respect to the king and he made a half bow. He had never been good at being formal, and the king probably pitied him, since he lifted Sans’s chin with a finger, with a deep chuckle.

“There is no need for this kind of formality. You were kind enough to come here, so I am the one who should be thanking you.”

Sans frowned. He was pretty sure that this wasn’t how a common relationship between king and subject usually worked.

“yeah… uhm… ‘bout the reason why i’m here…” Sans swallowed, tormenting the inside of his pockets with his fingers. “’dyne talked me about this judgin’ thing, and i-“

Asgore shushed him with a finger, and Sans instantly quieted, fearing that he had been disrespectful for going straight to the point.

“Important things are better discussed in front of a cup of tea. If you want to follow me, I have prepared everything. My wife has also made cookies, if you want some.”

Sans was sure he had mistakenly heard. Was Asgore really offering him a snack?

“uh… um… s-sure. as you wish, your majesty.”

“Call me Asgore, please.”

“okay. asgore, then.”

The king seemed satisfied of being called by his name and smiled at Sans, pushing him gently towards the round table that was waiting for them behind the two thrones at the center of the room. Everything was so big that Sans had to climb the stairs like a kid, since they were almost half his height.

He reached the table and looked at the chair with a discomforted expression. How was he supposed to sit on that? He could barely touch it. The thing had been projected for someone far bigger than he was, even though it was smaller than Asgore’s chair.

The king noticed that Sans was standing there without knowing what to do and smiled sheepishly.

“Oh, I am very sorry. I didn’t know you were going to be so… I mean, sometimes I forget that other monsters are not so-“

“it’s fine. i can sit on the ground.”

Asgore shook his head and took some books he had been reading. He put them on the chair and then, with Sans’s permission, he settled the little skeleton on top of the books.

All that knowledge helped Sans to reach the table with ease, and he rested his arms on the table-cloth.

Asgore poured the tea in the cups – they were as big as Sans’s head -, and offered Sans a biscuit that looked more like a cake, for its size.

Sans wasn’t one to say no to sweets, and he munched on it to ease his agitation. It was still warm and it tasted buttery. It was incredible, if compared to Sans’s usual food, either garbage he liked or garbage he was forced to eat to not hurt his brother’s feelings.

Asgore sat in front of him, and the floor gave a soft tremble under his weight.

“So, here we are, finally” the king said, smiling down at Sans. “How is the food?”

Sans let out a muffled noise, together with a few crumbs.

“Perfect. My wife will be really happy to know that. So, if it is fine with you, now we can go straight to business.”

Sans nodded and drank some tea to help the biscuit go down. He had barely scratched the surface of the sweet, and he was already full.

“From what I understood, Undyne has already told you what being the Judge implies.”

“yea, she has told me some things, but she has been a little vague.”

“I was expecting that… hm. Then, to make things clear, I have to tell you that you are in no way obliged to do this job. It is your choice. However, if you will accept it, you have to know that your responsibility will only be to examine the cases I will give you, and then decide an adequate punishment. There is no death punishment in our laws, not even for murder, so, you won’t have to worry about that: you won’t be an executioner. And it is important to say that your services won’t be required that often, since criminal activity is not particularly frequent in the Underground either, not even in the Capital.” Asgore took a deep breath in. “Your job will mainly be helping me be more just.”

Sans felt more and more relieved with every word. It didn’t seem so bad, put in that way. He could offer an opinion, if, in the end, it was Asgore who had the final word, anyway. He felt a little cowardly for thinking like that, but… if his job was just to relieve the king of some paperwork, it was going to be-

“However, I have to be completely honest with you. With the more complex cases, the ones that neither your sight nor my ability to understand can solve, we will have to resort to your karmic magic.”

Sans frowned. He wasn’t sure he liked that last statement.

“okay… and what does that mean?”

“You will have to use your magic on the people you judge. And, even though they won’t say what they have done, your magic will put it on display. Undyne has told me that your magic… that beams of yours, doesn’t actually carry any damage, if the person is not guilty of something, right?”

“uhh… yea, but… i don’t know if i can do this.”

Asgore put down the cup and tilted his head to the side.

“Can I ask you why? You don’t have to answer me if you don’t want to... but I would like to help, if I can.”

Sans sighed. They had finally reached the heart of the problem. He held his teacup so tight that his hands squeaked on it, and he stared at his reflection on the tea.

“i… i don’t think ‘m in the position to do judge anyone. i mean… your maj… asgore, you… you seem like a really good person, but- trust me if i tell ya i‘m not. i don’t have a clean enough conscience to do tell other people what’s right… and even if i hadn’t done anything, i still wouldn’t feel comfortable doin’ so. i have done… bad things.”

“And what have you done, exactly?”

Sans lowered his head and hugged himself. He felt that, if he had turned around right now, he could have seen the purple-eyed shadow that tormented his dreams looming over him, telling him that he was a murderer and that he should have been the one who fell in the Core. After all, Sans was a nobody, and the doctor had been the brightest monster in the Underground, even if he had gone a little off the rails in the end. By causing his death, Sans had damned them all together with the doctor… and no one even remembered that.

“i… i know it sounds childish, and… and incredibly stupid, but… my powers are not good, asgore.” Sans let out a little, broken laugh, feeling ridiculous for saying such things out loud, but he couldn’t go back now. “they don’t come from a good place. someone… in the past… has done things to me, and- and, one day, i couldn’t take it anymore, so i-“

Sans covered his mouth with a hand, unwillingly trying to keep everything inside.

Why was it so hard to talk?

No one remembered. No one was going to put him in jail over a dream.

That idea, somehow, made Sans feel even worse. There was no punishment for him for having caused the doctor’s death. If he only could have been punished… he would at least have made his peace.

Sans swallowed and took a deep breath in, while Asgore waited patiently for him to continue.

“what i wanna say is that, since a bad thing happened, i haven’t been the same. i feel like i’m crazy and… evil, sometimes. as if the only thing i manage to do is hurt those i care about, and- bein’ like this, unable to even protect even those i love from this new powers i have… how can i have the guts to use them on someone i don’t even know? what if i hurt them? what if i kill them? if someone died ‘cause of me _again_ , i… i-“

Sans’s voice broke. He couldn’t do this anymore. He had to get out of there.

“Sans…”

“i’m sorry, your majesty. i… ‘m sorry. i shouldn’t have come here. i just wasted your time.”

He struggled to get down the chair, and Asgore helped him to do so, but he didn’t let Sans go, holding a hand on his shoulder.

The little skeleton avoided his stare. He couldn’t bear to look him in the eye.

_comin’ here was an awful idea. what was i even thinkin’? why did i let ‘dyne ‘n pap convince me?_

“Sans. I don’t know you personally, but, from what I see, you are not a bad person in any way.”

Sans snorted. _Sure_. If only Asgore had known what had happened to the doctor. Sans was pretty sure he and Asgore they had been friends, at least on the king’s part, before G… Gas… got erased. And it had been Sans’s Blaster who had sent the doctor over the edge of that hole in the Core, hadn’t it? Sans at least remembered that. He remembered he had tried to save the doctor after that, but the damage had already been done. The doctor had refused… he hadn’t wanted to be saved anymore. Had it been Sans’s fault to make him think that way? His powers?

“Sans, could you please look at me?”

The king’s voice wasn’t bitter nor resentful. He just sounded sad.

The little skeleton obeyed, fighting the urge to look away, to escape. It was ironic that he, who was supposedly a Judge, feared so much to see the judgement in other people’s eyes. The disgust. The idea of not being worth of their trust. All the things he thought of himself, reflected in their eyes.

“You think that because you have done “bad things”, you can’t be a Judge.”

It wasn’t a question.

Sans stared at him blankly. His eye sockets stung, but he hadn’t any intentions of breaking in front of the king. He had already embarrassed himself enough.

“But, even if you have done something bad, you want to change and do better, right?”

“y-yes, but-

“Then, even though I think you shouldn’t think so low of yourself, in my humble opinion, you are qualified to be the Judge. Because I think that, having done something “bad” yourself and wanting to do better is the best example there is. A way of showing that anyone can change.”

Sans didn’t know what to think anymore. He hadn’t seen the problem from this point of view.

“And finally, instead of thinking about this job like a way to punish people, think of it as a way to help them. If you are there to offer judgement and you can see their true self, you will make sure they don’t get an unfair sentence. I may get things wrong, from time to time, and you could prevent that from happening. Give them justice. Even if you think your powers are evil, they can be used to do good. It does not matter where your abilities come from, but only where you will let them bring you.”

Sans thought about his words in silence, and deeply breathed in, closing his eye sockets.

“do you really think i could help?”

“Of course! Of course, Sans.”

The king smiled at him. Even though he had lots of sharp teeth, his expression was still heartwarming. There was no evil in his eyes, just a sort of melancholic sympathy. That probably was the reason why they called him king Fluffybuns.

If he needed help, and Sans was the only one who could give it to him… it felt like it was his duty to do so.

Again, he didn’t really have a choice. Especially not after Asgore had been so kind with him.

Something surrendered in Sans’s soul.

If his magic could have some use, at least, he wasn’t going to be a jobless and useless mess anymore.

And, maybe, he could make someone happy, even if he didn’t know how that could be possible.

“okay, then. i… i’ll do it. i’ll help.”

The king’s expression lightened up. “This is magnificent, Sans! I will organize a royal celebration for you, and-“

“no, no… please.” Sans lifted his hands. At least he had to stand his ground on this. “don’t tell anyone, okay? i don’t want parties or anything like that. i don’t want to be at the center of attention, if i can avoid it… your majesty.”

“Asgore” said the king, correcting him again. He kneeled down to look Sans in the eye, and he sighed. “It is fine. If you wish to not be celebrated as the new Judge, I will do as you ask. It is your job, after all.”

“thank you… asgore. i really appreciate it.”

The king looked sadder, now, though. Sans rubbed his cervical vertebrae with a hand, feeling uneasy. Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything. But he really didn’t wish to have a formal recognition.

However, instead of telling Sans what had upset him, Asgore lifted an index.

“But- I had prepared a cloak for you.”

Sans furrowed his eyebrows, his smile looking a little sincerer. “’xcuse me?”

The king laughed for a joke only he understood. “Wait here for a moment. I’ll be back soon.”

And he walked away, leaving Sans alone in the throne room.

The little skeleton sat on a step and looked at his hands, abandoned on his lap. What did he just get himself into?

**You’re so spineless it’s a wonder you still manage to walk around. You should have said no. You’re not someone who can be trusted.**

_but he needed help. maybe i can-_

**You didn’t manage to save the doctor, and he used to be a friend. An insanely desperate friend, but still a friend. What makes you think you can do something for Asgore?**

Sans sighed.

“well. it’s too later now. can’t go back.”

A rustle of leaves told Sans that he wasn’t alone anymore, and the little skeleton turned. Behind a column, there was a pair of brown eyes staring intently at him.

“uh… hello, buddy” said Sans, smiling to the little intruder. It had to be a kid, judging from their height. “you okay over there?”

The child blinked and got out the darkness. The yellow light of the throne room hit their soft, smooth face, and Sans felt something inside his chest freeze. It was a little girl, wearing a puffy dress, under which she had a pair of big trousers. She was holding a buttercup without petals, and her brown eyes were fixed into Sans’s.

Her expression was a mixture of shock and confusion.

Sans was pretty sure that his face was a mirror of hers, right now.

“kid… do i… do i know you?”

She flinched and ran away like a scared rabbit, vanishing in the golden hall. Sans felt the urge to get up and go after her, but, in that moment, Asgore came back.

“Oh, you’re there, Sans. I almost didn’t see you.” The king laughed a little and patted him on the shoulder. “Look… this is what I had in mind for you, but- ehm… since you told me you hate formalities… is… is everything alright? You are very pale.”

Sans asked himself how a skeleton could look paler than bone, and he forced a smile.

“yea” he answered, a little too fast to be believable. “everything’s okay. what is it that you wanted to show- … _oh_. that’s… that’s… um… really…”

Sans stared at the cloak Asgore was holding with his paws, and he couldn’t contain a chuckle.

“oh, gods” he said. “i’m so sorry, your maje- asgore. i mean, i appreciate the thought, really, but-“

Sans covered his mouth to not laugh again. He was being extremely disrespectful right now, but he couldn’t help it.

It was just too funny that Asgore had thought something like that could look good on Sans.

The little skeleton’s laughter was contagious, and the king found himself laughing as well.

“This belonged to the previous Judge. They really loved, um…”

“dressing to impress?”

“You could say that.”

Sans managed to breathe and cleaned the tears from his eye sockets. That had been funny. The cloak itself wasn’t even that bad. It was of a deep purple, with a white neckerchief decorated by a silver button on top of which rested a ruby. The Deltarune had been embroidered on the chest of the cloak with golden wire; it was a fine tailoring labor, but it was… too much.

“i definitely won’t put that on… but i can try it. so we can have a laugh together.”

Asgore chuckled and helped Sans put on the cloak. The thing was so large Sans practically swam in it, and he and Asgore looked at each other until the king agreed that, maybe, Sans had been right.

“Do you want me to make it smaller?”

“no, no. it’s fine like this. i mean… even if i won’t wear it, i like it. thanks, your maje- asgore.”

The king smiled. At least he had managed to make Sans laugh for real. Maybe that was how he had been, before what had happened to him.


	3. From another lifetime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans judges a criminal and makes a troubled child feel guilty. Good job, Sans.

The monster’s face was hidden under a heavy black cloak. He was breathing heavily, filling the waiting room with a strong smell of onions. He had probably eaten something at the MTT hotel fast-food since he was still trying to take the glitters off of his anglerfish-like fangs with a claw.  
The monster was tapping his left foot on the ground with growing impatience, and the tension in his shoulders was more than evident, even though he was trying to keep a confident pose. Not that he had to struggle that much to appear scary: he was tall and wide, like a rectangle of rock moving on two tree trunks, and his razor-sharp fangs were dripping drool on his chin.   
That creature wasn’t exactly the happy and huggable kind of monster that could be found in the inhabited areas of the Underground, or even in the outskirts, like Snowdin. That monster was one of those loners who preferred to wander in the deepest and darkest parts of the earth, avoiding social contact, except for when it was absolutely necessary. There were some people who had never gotten used to the easy life everyone was doing and were still preparing for a war that wasn’t going to come anytime soon since the barrier was still as solid as the first day.  
The monster looked at the clock on the wall before him, next to a portrait of the royal family, and he grimaced.  
“Can you believe it?” he whispered, with a deep, gravelly voice that would’ve made anyone’s soul shiver in terror. “How the hell could someone adopt a HUMAN child, instead of taking their soul and just be done with it? I mean, we have the chance to get out of here right before us… and the king is feeding the kid, waiting for it to actually become a menace. How stupid can you possibly be? Amiright, friend?” The monster frowned and raised his voice. “HEY! I’m talkin’ to you!”  
Sans, who had been waiting for the monster to start the conversation, smiled to himself. Then, he turned towards that cuddly guy and tried to look as scared and pathetic as he could – not that he had to struggle a lot to do that. The monster was pretty terrifying. Sans had never seen a creature like him, and of course, he had to be the one dealing with it.  
Luckybones was his second name, after all.  
“oh- ‘m sorry. i thought you were talkin’ to someone else, bud! didn’t mean to be rude.”  
The monster stared at him for an indefinite amount of time, then he shrugged. “whatever.”  
He stayed in silence for a brief moment, caught up in his thoughts, and Sans resumed mopping the floor with the wet rag he had taken from a broom closet.  
He put the rag in the bowl he had filled with hot water and squeezed it.   
“So… little guy…”  
“yea?”  
The monster looked extremely nervous, but also curious about Sans. He kept staring at the little skeleton and at his shabby clothes. Sans’s old, grey sweatshirt and his pink pants with smiley faces on them weren’t exactly an outfit worthy of a court, and his appearance always attracted the attention of guests.  
“What’re you doin’ here anyway?”  
Sans blinked, looking innocent as a puppy. “err… what do ya mean? my job, o’course.”  
The monster grunted. “Well, even I got that, little runt. I mean, what’s your job?”  
Sans hit his forehead with a palm. “sorry, i can’t really think today. i feel such a bonehead right now! um… you know, ‘m the janitor.”  
“The… Janitor?”  
“yea. that’s why ‘m cleanin’ the floor.” Sans looked around cautiously and lowered his voice. “we don’t want it to be dirty when that judge guy arrives. so, could ya please move your feet for just a second? i have to clean underneath the bench.”  
The monster looked at him with two, menacing red dots. Sans waited patiently until the guy raised his feet with a grunt.  
“thank you, bud.”  
“Whatever.”  
Sans skidded on the floor like a penguin, his bones squeaking on the marble, and reached the bench. He took his time in cleaning, humming a quiet tune to himself.  
The guy wasn’t as tough and evil as he looked, at least. He didn’t have to be kind to a small fish like Sans. It was like seeing a shark moving his tail so that a cleaner fish could do its little job.  
“So…” There he was, talking again. Captain Fangs was starting to feel more at ease now, wasn’t he? Sans’s external appearance made people feel at ease; he looked like the most harmless creature in the Underground since even a Moldsmal was more sturdy than him, and everyone became somehow protective towards him, after a while. “… do you know this Judge person?”  
“yea, we chat sometimes. the guy is pretty lonely, so he enjoys a little talk with me. but i always skedaddle before he starts the judgment, so i don’t know what happens in there, really.”  
“Hm.” The monster sighed, and his shoulders slouched a little.  
Sans sat on his heels and looked at him with an empathetic smile. “you’re here to meet him, right?”  
“Yeah.”  
“to do the judgement thing.”  
“Huh-huh.”  
“you worried, pal?”  
The monster snorted a second time. “I’m not afraid of anything or anyone. Do I look like that kind of monster to you? I’m a true monster, a scary monster, not one of those wimps they make nowadays. They’re getting smaller and smaller, I swear. Look at yourself, for example. All puny lookin’. You should put some armor on or somethin’. No offense.”  
Sans shrugged. “eh, no offense taken. i know ‘m not a weight lifting champion or anythin’ like that. but the armor would just make me look ridiculous, friend… i mean, more ridiculous than i already do. can you imagine? it would be like seein’ a pooch dressed up as a german shepherd or somethin’. so, better stay this way.”  
The monster cleared his throat to hide a tiny laugh, almost as if he had been ashamed of showing a little sign of involvement in anything Sans said.  
“anyways” the little skeleton added, resuming his cleaning. “how long have ya been waitin’ here for the judge? you seem really nervous.”  
“It’s already been almost an HOUR. Who does he think he is? Makin’ me wait like this.”   
Sans had just touched a nerve. Well, wouldn’t it be funny, if he had told the guy he had the real deal in front of him, cleaning floors while observing his next victim? Sans felt a lot more at ease staying in the waiting room and talking with the guests, trying to figure them out when they were still blissfully ignorant, instead of being all official, wearing that ridiculously formal robe Asgore had given him and staring at the prisoners from a high seat.  
That wasn’t really Sans’s style. It felt wrong even imagining himself following such mannerisms.  
Sans didn’t want to make people feel uneasy. He just wanted… well, he wasn’t sure what he wanted, really. Sans only knew that he had to do this judgment thing, since he was the one monster in the Underground who could see, and he wanted to do it his way.  
“yea, he probably thinks he’s better than us. such an important role must’ve gone to the guy’s head. but he’s not as scary as people think. he even offered me somethin’ to eat a few times.”  
And with that Sans thought about all the times he had invited himself to dinner at Grillby’s. Just Sans and his hamburgers. It was always a lovely date.  
“Really?”  
Sans nodded and sat on the ground. The waiting room was squeaking clean. It was surreal to think it had been Sans to do that since his room looked like a pit of despair and dirty socks. But he was on the job, so he had to keep appearances… make people think that he was actually a functioning monster and not a mess who wore a smile, while on the inside he was feeling like he had no clue about what to do with anything.  
“yea. _tibia_ honest, i don’t think he’s goin’ to give ya any problems, bud.”  
The monster frowned, thinking about his joke. “Is this what young people call comedy nowadays?”  
“’m sorry that you didn’t find my joke really _humerus_. ‘m not that young, anyway. ‘m too old to get sympathy from other people, but not so old that they want to help me cross the road, yanno? ‘m just the normiest of the normies. ‘n my comedy is just like me, i guess.”  
The monster stared at him with more interest. He seemed to like Sans and his quiet chattering.  
“You may be a bag of bones, but you seem okay.”  
“aw, thank you. you’re really sweet, pal.”  
“Sure. Whatever.”  
Sans found himself grinning. That guy could play tough all he wanted, but, deep down, he was a big softie, wasn’t he?  
“listen… friend, can i ask you somethin’? you don’t hafta answer, if you don’t feel like it, though. ‘s just curiosity.”  
The monster didn’t say anything, looking at the doors of the Judgement Hall.  
Sans took a deep breath in. Okay. There it was, the moment to pop the fatal question.  
“i just wanted to say… what is it that you did, to make you end up here? i mean… you look a little intimidating, bud, i’ll give ya that, but-… you don’t seem to be that bad of a guy. You even helped me clean.”  
The monster let out a bitter laugh. “I’m all kinds of bad, little runt.” He sighed deeply and became more serious. “You don’t know how it is outside your little, happy towns; y’all pretendin’ that everythin’s okay and that we don’t have to worry about humans anymore. I did awful things, sometimes to survive, sometimes not. What I did to end up here… I can tell ya, it’s not a good thing.”  
Sans relaxed a little. At least he knew that what he did was wrong. But why did he do it?   
Sans hadn’t actually used the true extent of his seeing on the monster, because he preferred to give the accused the chance to explain themselves without any kind of intrusion in their conscience on Sans’s part, but this person was really withdrawn. If he wasn’t going to talk, Sans would’ve had to see into him, in order to discover the truth.  
However, a little twinge of guilt was already in Sans’s soul. Even though it was ridiculous, he was starting to feel pity for this fearsome individual, and he couldn’t let himself do that.  
“oh. so ya think you… deserve the judgment?” Sans said, after swallowing. His mouth felt dry, and his soul was thumping harder in his ribcage.  
The monster nodded. “In my defense, I can say that it was an accident. Even though… you know, I’m not the cuddliest of guys, I’m still not a murderer. I would never kill another monster on purpose if they don’t try to kill me first. The problem is that… this guy… I was sleeping under the bridge, and then he came at me yelling, saying that I couldn’t stay there, in the middle of the night. Where I live, if someone comes towards you like that, it’s a matter of life or death… I was still half asleep and, before I knew it, I hit him in self-defense. After that, he was dust on my feet. It really was an accident. I swear. Do you believe me, little guy?”  
Sans stared at him for a long moment, right into the two red dots under the monster’s cloak, pushing his seeing a tiny bit further. He saw that the monster was indeed feeling guilty. He might’ve had some violent ideas about humanity and be a quick-handed guy, but he wasn’t cruel. Not really. He had just made a mistake. A very big one, who had costed the life of someone else, but… he didn’t deserve to die.  
Sans focused back on himself and sighed. People were so complicated. There was always something that pushed Sans to feel sympathetic towards them. Not that he justified them or condoned what they had done, but he understood them. However, the law was the law, and those who had killed had to pay. For the worst cases, there were the palace’s dungeons, but, for people like this, who had already repented, after a period of detention, they could atone for their crimes through giving help to the whole monster community.   
“yea… i believe ya, bud.”  
The monster nodded slowly. He was shivering a little. And then, without any warning, he hugged Sans, squeezing all the air out of his ribcage.  
The skeleton wasn’t prepared for something like this from such a tough person, and he stayed rigid in his hold, trying to process what was happening. Then, Sans hugged back, when he realized the big guy was now crying on his shoulder. His tears soaked Sans’s sweatshirt.  
“I didn’t really mean to!”  
The monster was sobbing incoherently, and Sans felt his soul swell in pity. This wasn’t good at all. He had to stay impartial.  
But he couldn’t just stay there and do nothing, right?  
So, he patted the big guy’s back, trying to comfort him as best as he could. For someone looking from the window, it would’ve been a comedic scene: a terrifying monster searching comfort in a dumpy skeleton while sobbing like a kid.  
“i know, i know… it’s not really your fault, he just startled you. you just attacked without thinkin’, right?”  
The monster let out a pitiful noise.  
“okay… so… s-since it’s clear that things are like this, why don’t you… why don’t you let me talk with the judge about this? he should be here by now. maybe, if i can tell him how things went, he’ll be kinder to you. i’m not talkin’ about corruptin’ him or anythin’, eh, but… yanno. talkin’ never killed anyone.”  
The monster kept Sans’s little frame in his hands, lowering them a little to look at him in the face.  
“Are you sure you can do such a thing?” he asked, confused.  
“oh, yea… i’m… heh… i’m a witness, right? you told me your story. i’ve already done this, and he’s been really nice when i talked to him. maybe i can smoothen things out for ya and-“  
The monster resumed sobbing and squeezed Sans a second time. If he had had eyes, they would’ve left his skull due to the sheer pressure. It wasn’t hard to imagine that that monster would accidentally dust another one without meaning it.   
“Thank you, little guy! It’d mean a lot for me! How can I repay you for this?”   
“uh… ya don’t really hafta-“  
“I’ll offer you something to eat at the inn! Or whatever else you want. You know, no one has ever tried to help me before.”  
Sans’s soul twitched in compassion a second time.   
**No, stop it, sentimental idiot. You have to judge him, that’s all. Job done, go home, sleep, repeat. It’s nothing special. If you give your heart to every goddamn prisoner that comes here to be judged, you’ll soon be left with nothing to spare, so don’t you dare-**  
“why do you say that, bud? don’t you have any friends?”  
 **Why did you ask that? Is it because of your crippling masochism or-**  
“Well. I mean… I had friends, but they… you know. Died. In the war.”  
“oh. that’s really… um…”  
 **There you go! Happy now? You didn’t need to know that! Now you’re going to stay up at night and think about how cruel life must have been with this guy. You don’t even know his name! Just let it go! Stop trying to save everyone who crosses your path!**  
“’m really sorry for you. i have no idea of what that must be like… but you can make new friends, if you want. everyone here is really nice! i mean, i’d avoid jerry, he’s a pain in the ass, but-“  
“I don’t think I still know how to make friends. People are too afraid of me to even get close.”  
 _oh, no. the guilt trip. this is makin’ me feel emotions. ‘s not good. not at all._  
But Sans couldn’t stop himself now. He couldn’t shut his damn mouth, almost as if a weird force had been possessing him, compelling him to just talk.  
“if it’s like that, maybe i can help ya. we’ll go to grillby’s and have a burg together, and i’ll present you a few people there. after all, ‘m finished with my job here, for today, and ‘m kinda starvin’, to be honest. so, if ya want to come with me, before, you know…”  
before they lock you up for ten years or so, we can be friends for an evening. ‘cause i love feelin’ like garbage even more than i thought, apparently.  
The big guy hugged Sans so tight that he almost squeezed the soul out of him. It would have been really embarrassing if Sans dusted too and they had to find a new judge, leaving the big guy to cry his eyes out because he had killed his new pal. Just another one of Sans’s possible pathetic-death scenarios.  
“Thank you! You’re so kind!”  
“really, no, ‘m just- well, uh, you’re… welcome, i guess. i’m… i’m gonna go now. talk to the judge. yea. be back in a few minutes, k?”  
The monster finally let him go and Sans almost ran towards the Judgment Hall. He skidded inside through the small passage between the humongous doors, and he closed them with a grunt of effort. Then, Sans let his back slide against the door, and he covered his face with his hands.  
How stupid could he be?   
Once Einstein said that only two things were infinite, and apparently Sans’s idiocy was the third one.

  
After passing the evening with the big guy at Grillby’s, Sans had to bring him back to the palace.   
They left each other in front of the cells before the guards took the prisoner away.   
Sans looked at him go with a knot in his throat.   
“Will you come here to have chat, from time to time?” the big guy asked, putting a hand on Sans’s shoulder. “I know that I’m asking a lot, but-“  
“no, no… ‘s fine. i’ll pay you a visit. yanno… i work here, so…” Sans cleared his throat. Why was he feeling so bad? He had done his best. It wasn’t his fault if that guy had killed another person. The Judge held no guilt. But then, why was it so difficult? Why was he still crushed by the pity that had tormented him the whole day? “i’ll make sure to come to see ya so ya won’t be lonely. i’ll bring you somethin’ to keep ya busy. there’re some nice books in the librarby and in the royal library. maybe i can-“  
“It’s fine. You’ve already done enough, little guy. A few words will be enough.” The monster’s eyes focused on Sans’s tiny frame, and his toothy smile became almost comforting. “You don’t have to feel guilty for me.”  
Sans lifted his head, surprised. Was it that evident?  
“i… i don’t-“  
“You’re just doing your job, after all. No ill intent in that.” The monster said, letting the guards put handcuffs on him. “You didn’t have to be kind. You did more than your job actually required. So, thank you. And see you, little guy.”  
Sans tried to speak, but his voice got stuck somewhere in his cervical vertebrae. He followed the guards and the prisoner with his eye lights until they vanished behind an angle, and then he sighed deeply.   
When did the big guy understand that Sans was the Judge? Where had Sans slipped?   
Well, maybe when you decided to take his case to heart, idiot.  
The little skeleton pressed his hands on his eye sockets. Suddenly, he was feeling really tired. That day had taken a lot out of him. He just wanted to go back home and cuddle against Papyrus’ side, but it was really late, and not even the River Person was still there to give him a passage to Snowdin. Sans had to go back on foot. If only he hadn’t passed the evening chattering with that monster…  
The little skeleton sighed and dragged his feet towards the exit of the dungeon.  
His eye sockets were drooping, and he had to sit on a marble bench for a moment, to clear his head. He rummaged in the pockets of the puffed hoodie he used as a coat. Maybe there was a coffee candy there, somewhere. Sans always kept a few with him to help with his lethargy. The smell of coffee alone was enough to revitalize him a little.  
But that night there wasn’t any candy left.   
The world had to spite him really badly.  
Sans shook his head and patted his cheeks, trying to wake himself up.   
i hafta warn paps that i’m gonna be late…  
He groaned and opened his old cell-phone. The thing still had plastic buttons, and its battery lasted for a week, so Sans didn’t have to recharge it constantly.   
The little skeleton started to write a message to Papyrus.   
“bro, sorry if i didn’t make it home for dinner. i’m at the palace, for the judge thingy. i just finished now, ‘n i’m gonna come home soon. hope ya didn’t wa ste y ou r spghetttt”  
Sans had become more and more sleepy while writing until his mind had gotten so foggy that he didn’t even know what he was doing anymore. The phone fell on the ground, and Sans curled up into a ball, hugging his puffy jacket.   
just five minutes, he told himself. then, i’ll go… just five… to rest my eye lights…  
Sans sank into the softness of his jacket, and his thoughts became senseless warm things, spiraling into nothingness.

Sans was awoken by a gentle knocking on the door.  
“papyrushh… ‘s my free day… let me sleep…”  
He hid his head under the pillow and resumed snoring. A few seconds later, they knocked again.  
“Mr.Sans? May I come in?”  
Sans opened his eye sockets. That… that wasn’t Papyrus.   
“y-yea, sure” Sans mumbled, trying to scrub the sleepiness away from his face.   
The comforting darkness of the room was cut by a sliver of light. A familiar shape obscured it, holding what looked like a tray full of pastries, together with a cup of tea.  
“asgore?” said Sans, even though a part of him already knew it wasn’t the king. The being’s horns weren’t as big as the Asgore’s, and the creature’s fur looked softer and whiter.   
The monster chuckled. It was definitely a female, and a vague scent of flowers reached Sans’s nasal cavity when she got closer.   
The goat monster opened the room’s window so the light of the external lanterns could enter, and then she sat down at Sans’s side, putting the tray on his knees. The little skeleton was still too baffled to say anything; he stared at her with a blank expression, looking like a confused and particularly bony pufferfish.  
She laughed at his goofy appearance – while Sans had been sleeping, someone had put a ginormous night robe above his shirt and pants, probably one of Asgore’s pajamas – and pinched one of his cheekbones in a playful manner.  
“Well, good morning, sleepyskull.”  
“you… you’re-“ Sans swallowed and looked away, bowing his head. Again, he had never been good at the formal stuff. “y-your majesty. what… a surprise…”  
Sans had never met Toriel before. He had always seen the queen from afar, talking to her subjects or with Asgore. For some reason, she held a more intimidating aura then her husband, maybe because she looked a little bit detached, sometimes.  
“There’s no need for you to bow” said Toriel, caressing his skull. Her paws were soft as a cloud. The fact that she also had claws, strangely, didn’t disturb Sans. He was usually weary around bigger monsters, since they could be really clumsy and hit him by mistake – and there wasn’t much room for that, with his extremely fragile health -, but Toriel had some sort of reassuring power to her touch that made him relax on the spot. “You’ve been doing a really good job, so far. Asgore said that you take it really seriously… even though you have… um… particular ways to get it done.” She paused. Sans was sure that, if he had had blood vessels, his face would’ve been red by now. “Did you sleep well, this night?”  
Sans blinked and tried to pull himself together. “oh… uh, yeah. really well. um- i don’t remember how i got here, though.”  
Toriel let out a warm laugh. “Well, the kids have found you asleep on a bench in the garden. You had sunk like a rock, and they couldn’t wake you up. So, they called Asgore, he picked you up and brought you here. This is one of the guest rooms, but you can use it anytime you want if you feel like having a nap.”  
Sans didn’t think he could be more embarrassed than this. It would have been perfect if, right now, the bed became alive and swallowed him whole, so he didn’t have to finish that conversation.  
He fell asleep in the palace, and the King had to pick him up. Oh, God. Why?  
Sans hid his face with a hand and sighed. “i’m sorry. it won’t happen again, i was just really tired, and… i was goin’ to go home, but while i was textin’ to my brother, i just… just… i don’t remember. i must’ve been real tired. but next time i won’t fall asleep on a bench, i swear! i’ll take the river person’s boat before it closes.”  
Toriel listened to him patiently, and then she shushed Sans with another caress to his skull.   
she surely likes to pet my head, thought Sans, with a little chuckle, even though he was still so embarrassed that he barely fought the urge to hide under the covers.  
“There’s no need. You can sleep here anytime it’s too late to go home. Now, why don’t you eat something? You skipped dinner yesterday, right?”  
Sans’s invisible stomach grumbled in response, and the sweets waiting for him on the tray called for his attention.   
“um… i don’t want to take advantage of your kindness.” He swallowed. “it’s better if i go home, now.”  
Toriel stopped his feeble attempt at leaving by putting a pastry under his nasal cavity.  
“Are you sure? I made them myself, and they’re skeleton sized. It would be rude to leave without eating something.”  
Sans rubbed his neck, and let out a resigned sigh. Fine. He was going to eat.  
 _well, doesn’t she like to mother people?_  
Not that he really minded. Sans loved Papyrus, but not even his immense love for his brother was enough to make Papyrus’ cooking taste good; Toriel’s pastries, on the other hand, were heavenly. If she could make vegetables taste this good too, maybe Sans would have converted to the good side of the force.   
But no. He liked garbage food too much.  
“sho” said Sans, between a bite and the other. “you like to bake shtuff, right?”  
Toriel smiled. “Oh, yes. I often prepare cakes for the children or biscuits for Asgore. He likes to have them with his tea.”  
Sans swallowed and smiled back. He was feeling both happy for the royal family, and nostalgic for something he had never had. He didn’t know if his and Papyrus’ parents had been good or not, but they had abandoned them in the orphanage when they were barely big enough to say a few words. Sans didn’t remember them, but he surely remembered how much he had used to long for someone to be their parents when he had been little. However, Sans had left that mindset behind him a long time ago, when, as a kid, he had realized that the only family he really needed was his brother… but, sometimes, the nostalgia came back, so bittersweet.  
“it’s really… nice to see you all get along so well.” Sans took a sip of tea. It was almost cold. “i… how is it goin’ with… you know… the human child?”  
“Chara?” Toriel’s eyes instantly brightened, while talking about the kid. “She’s a peculiar child, to say the least, but she has a big heart, even though she tries to hide it. She always worries so much about everyone’s wellbeing. Sometimes, I’m afraid that Chara thinks she has monsterkind’s sake on her shoulders… unfortunately, there’s not much I can do about that: I tell people that she’s our kid, and not our savior, but, you know… with the prophecy…”  
Sans frowned. “the thing about the angel…?”  
Toriel nodded and her expression became more somber. “Exactly. Every time we exit the palace, people ask her to free them. It’s been a year since she’s fallen in the Underground and has decided to stay, but the people’s pleas are as strong as the first day. We can’t really tell them to stop hoping, though… it would crush them if we took away this ray of sun. Chara and Asriel are our best bet to get out of here… even though I hate to even say that.”  
Sans put a hand on Toriel’s arm. He regretted it instantly, but he couldn’t just take it away, now. The Queen looked at him, her expression unreadable.   
“uh… um… i know that i’m a nobody, really… b-but, if you want my five gold, kids gotta be kids. it’s better if they just do their thing and be happy, instead of thinkin’ about these things. they’ll have all the time to do that when they become adults.”  
Toriel put her paw on Sans’s bony hand and smiled. The little skeleton felt relieved that she hadn’t been offended by his intrusion. “Thank you, Sans. I couldn’t agree more with you.”  
At that moment, the door swung open, and two little shapes entered the room, pushing each other and chattering loudly.  
“He’s sleeping here, right? I never got to see him! They say the Judge is a really scary… guy…”  
The small goat monster wearing a green shirt froze, realized that Sans and Toriel were staring right at him, and hid behind the other kid’s back.  
“Gee, Az! You’re such a coward!” said the human child, rolling her eyes. She tried to get him out of his hiding place. “C’mon, that guy’s not going to eat you! He’s just a bag of bones, can’t you see?”  
Sans didn’t know if he should have been offended or humored by how dismissive of him the kid was, but he smiled and waved a hand anyway.  
“yea… as you can see, your mother has already filled me with enough sweets for today, so i ain’t gonna have a kid snack anytime soon” he said, winking at the children. “you must be asriel and chara, right? why don’t you come to sit here? there’s enough place for you too, and i didn’t eat everything, so-“  
He didn’t even have the time to finish the sentence, that the kids stormed in the room, taking everything that Sans had left. They stuffed their faces with sweets, not even listening to Toriel’s demands of eating slowly.  
“You’re going to have hiccups, you two! Are you even chewing, or are you vacuuming those cakes?!”  
Sans looked at them quarrel with a vague smile. His eye lights were fixed on Chara. That kid… Sans didn’t know why, but, for the second time, he had the feeling he had already seen them, somewhere. Maybe in another life.  
did i see them in the dream?  
His memories, his lunacies… or whatever they were… Sans was sure that Chara had at least made an appearance in them. But he couldn’t really remember where or how.  
Toriel put a hand on Sans’s shoulder. It was big enough to cover almost his whole chest, but it wasn’t menacing. Her presence helped him to not dwell in the sudden melancholy that had assaulted him.  
“Sans, is everything alright?”  
The little skeleton blinked and his smile became more real. “yea… ‘m fine. ‘m just… really stuffed. ‘m afraid i’m gonna go home rollin’, instead of walkin’, here. you’re goin’ to spoil me, your majesty, if ya keep givin’ me food and places to sleep on.”  
Sans grunted and got out of bed. He felt dizzy for a second, and then he struggled to get out of Asgore’s pajamas.   
He thanked Toriel again and ruffled Asriel’s hair on his way out. He would’ve done the same with Chara, but, at the last moment, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The kid made him feel… not bad, but she gave an unsettling vibe. However, it could have just been Sans’s paranoia for humans, a residue of the doctor telling him over and over how they were monstrous, cruel and such.  
Or maybe it was just that Sans couldn’t really place Chara, and that made him nervous. Even when he wasn’t using his seeing, he could understand people pretty well, but with her… she was giving Sans a cold stare, as if she had been thinking similar things about him…. and it wasn’t a nice expression to see on the face of a kid.

Sans was humming a little tune to himself while walking through the royal library. All the books that belonged to the royal family had been stored there in the centuries. Most of them were scraps and residues that arrived from the human world, but there were also little collections, given to the royal family after the death of the original owners, that contained precious gems. The librarby in Snowdin in comparison didn’t have anything at all to read… well, except for Fluffy Bunny, of course. That miracle contained into a mere fifty pages, the only thing capable of sending Papyrus to dreamland, had rested in the kid section of the librarby for generations. Sans had borrowed it so many times that the librarbian, once, had just decided to give it to him, since there was already another copy of the story.  
Sans had never been so grateful to another living being in his whole life.  
However, Papyrus had been asking him for something else to read, maybe with some finger-puppets to tell the story. Sans had been searching for weeks, before finding the courage to ask Toriel if she could show him where the kids’ books were stored. The place was so huge that Sans always got lost, but with the map Toriel had drawn for him on a napkin, it should have been easier.  
The key word was should.  
Sans always got lost in the library, maybe because it was labyrinthic in nature, with all the walls of not-yet-stored books here and there, ever-changing, or maybe because of him being so small in such a big place.  
Sans tried to read the map better, but it was already too late.  
He sighed deeply and sat on the ground. At least he had already finished with the judging for today. Most of the time there were no monsters to judge, so he had only to sign a few papers, and it was done. That day had been one of those days, and Sans had hoped to get home soon and maybe do some sentry duty… but seeing how things were, he wasn’t going anywhere.  
“’m sorry, pap. i really tried. maybe i’ll come up with a new story myself. surely i don’t lack new material, with all the weird people that live here…”  
Sans yawned. Last night he had barely gotten any sleep. His nightmares had been horrible. He had dreamed about running without end, unable to get away from a purple shadow, and then, he had felt a deep pain in his chest. He had woken up with his soul throbbing painfully around the scar, aching like it hadn’t done in ages, and he hadn’t had the courage to try to sleep again.  
And now, he was on the verge of losing consciousness in the palace again. Sans rubbed his eye sockets and forced himself to get up. He needed coffee. Maybe there was a coffee machine in the library… but it was hoping too much. The Dreemurs were incredibly old-fashioned, from the way they spoke, especially in Asgore’s case, to the way they seemed to be allergic to every sort of new technology that was being developed in the labs or taken from humankind’s waste.  
Sans had to write his judging reports by hand, instead of on a computer, and store them in an archive that smelled a little too much of mold, even for his not so squeamish nasal cavity.  
“Who’s there?”  
Sans’s soul skipped a beat and he jerked towards the direction the voice was coming from.   
“Oh… it’s you.”  
The human kid, Chara, was staring at Sans from behind a shelf, holding a book with a colored cover in her hands. She looked suspicious, but her voice relaxed a little when she understood that the intruder wasn’t a stranger.   
“What are you doing here?”  
“kid… you almost gave me a heart attack” whispered Sans, pressing a hand on his chest.   
Chara lifted an eyebrow. “You’re a skeleton. You don’t even have a heart.”  
“oh… well… that’s a really mean thing to say, kid. i mean, i have a metaphorical heart, yanno, and comments like this hurt.” Sans smiled playfully, but the joke fell flat. He cleared his throat, looking around. “okay… uhm… i didn’t mean to disturb your reading, so, i’ll leave ya to it. ya have an interestin’ book there, i bet.”  
Chara hugged the book and held it close to her chest. Her eyes narrowed.  
“Why do you care? It’s mine.”  
Sans lifted his hands in surrender. “’s okay, kid, i’m not goin’ to steal it. i was just askin’.”  
Chara’s shoulders relaxed a little, but she remained wary. She didn’t lose sight of Sans for a second.  
Was he that scary? Maybe for a human it was pretty bone-chilling to see a skeleton walk around on his own, like some cursed spirit possessing what remained of a human body after death.   
“What are you doing here, anyway?” Chara asked again, still using the bookshelf as a barrier between her and Sans.  
The little skeleton shrugged. “i was just searchin’ for some nice kids’ books. queen toriel gave me this map, but… eh, i can’t really follow it. it’s all confusing, and i’m really tired. i’d call it a day and go home, but i can’t even find the exit of the library. guess i’m stuck here until the queen feels enough pity to come ‘n search for me. she has some kind of sixth sense when it comes about people in distress, so…”  
Chara, who had been listening in silence, still staring at him with her big, stern brown eyes, cut him short.  
“For whom are the kids’ books you were lookin’ for? You don’t have any kids, do you?”  
What she intended to say probably was “no one is crazy enough to have a kid with you, right?”, but things like that just slid over Sans without touching him. All his affections and worries were already focused on Papyrus, and Sans didn’t need anyone else. Besides, he would have preferred to throw himself in a river, instead of investing emotionally in anyone else ever again.  
“no, i don’t… of course. but i do have a brother. and, even though he’s only two years younger than me, he still asks for a bedtime story every night. guess he didn’t get enough when he was a kid, but… whatever keeps him happy, i’m glad to do. i just live for that, so. anyways… ‘s better if i try to find the exit. i don’t wanna go home too late. paps always gets cranky, when i’m not there for dinner.”  
Sans waved a hand to say goodbye, and he went back on his steps.   
“I… I know where the kids’ books are.”  
“…what?”  
“I know where to find a book for your brother” she repeated, her voice louder this time.  
Sans turned slowly, surprised by her offering to help. He had thought she despised him, for some reason he couldn’t really place. What an interesting turn of events.  
“that’d be awesome, kid.”

Chara led the way through the bookshelves as if she had known the library like the back of her hand. She was extremely quiet, and all of Sans’s attempts at conversation fell into an uncomfortable silence. So, in the end, he stopped trying and followed her meekly, without saying anything else.  
Sans almost bumped into her, when Chara suddenly stopped.   
“Watch where you go, bag of bones” mumbled the child, giving him a crooked look.  
“sorry, i didn’t do it on purpose. ‘s not like i love to fall on people, tibia honest.”  
She didn’t even flinch at the pun. Sans always felt really small, when people were so unfazed by his attempts at making them laugh.  
Chara pointed to the kids’ book collection, extremely colored if compared to the adult’s sections of the library. “There. Take what you want.”  
Sans looked at her for a brief moment, then sighed and kneeled in front of the little bookshelves. He got absorbed by his research, and he had almost forgotten about Chara when she talked again.  
“So? Did you find a book of his liking or not?”  
Sans had around ten books in his bony arms. “yea, i found a lot! thanks for the help.”  
The problem was now taking those books home. But he was going to manage, one way or the other.  
Chara nodded sharply. “I’m going to my room, now. If you want, I can show you the exit.”  
“oh… yes, please, do. i’m really lost, here… could use a little help.”  
Chara stared at him in her own bone-chilling way and then directed towards the exit. While they were walking, Sans took a peek at her book and smiled.  
Tales from the surface: how was it like?  
“do you miss home, kid?”  
She flinched and held the book close to her chest again. “It’s none of your business.”  
“sorry. i was just curious. yanno, i’ve never seen the surface, so it’s really intriguing when there’s a book about how it was when monsters were up there. i know i’ve never been there myself, but… i miss it. you don’t hafta be embarrassed, there’s nothing bad in having nostalgia for-“  
“I don’t feel any kind of nostalgia,” she said, a note of anger in her voice. “And neither should you. The surface isn’t a good place. You wouldn’t like humans. They are bad. I’m glad I fell down here and found you. I don’t get why you want to get out so much.”  
Sans sighed. “yanno, kid… we can put all the lanterns we want and make it beautiful, but bein’ born here ‘s like bein’ an animal raised in captivity. just because you don’t know any better, it doesn’t mean that somewhere, deep down, you don’t feel how it could be like, to be free. who cares ‘bout humans, honestly. i’d just want to see the sky before i die.”  
A heavy silence fell between them, and Chara stopped walking. Sans felt a knot forming in his throat, and repented of what he had just said to her. How could he, after Toriel had explained to him that Chara was feeling responsible for monsters being still trapped in the Underground?  
“listen, kid…” whispered Sans, putting the books on a table for a moment. He lifted a hand and hesitated, keeping it a few centimeters away from Chara’s shoulder, before letting his arm fall back to his side. She gave the impression of not liking to be touched. “don’t listen to everythin’ i say. sometimes i can be a little glum, yanno? ya shouldn’t worry about this. it’s not your fault if we’re trapped down here.”  
“Do you really think that?”  
For the first time, there was some emotion in Chara’s voice, and Sans felt his soul tighten in response.  
“of course. i didn’t mean to make you feel bad. i’m just a dumb skeleton, and sometimes i say dumb things.”  
“I don’t think you’re dumb.”  
Sans blinked. He hadn’t expected her to say something like that. Sans’s expression softened, and he got closer to Chara, to take a better look at her. The kid’s face was covered in brown hair, and the only thing visible was her thin lips, trembling softly.   
“uh… um, thanks, kid. it’s really kind of you. what i wanna say is that you shouldn’t worry about all this. how many years do you have again? ten, now?”  
“Ten and a half” she corrected him.  
For some reason, Sans felt a little amused. He had the impression that wasn’t the first time she had said something like that.  
The little skeleton gently put a lock of hair behind Chara’s ear to see her eyes, and she didn’t recoil. Her eyelids were glistening with tears.  
“oh, no. c’mon, kid… you shouldn’t put yourself down like this.” Sans swallowed, trying to think of something. It wasn’t nice to see a kid cry like that. There was a sort of hopelessness in her stare, that made him feel like the world was a little dimmer. Why hadn’t he shut his mouth? “you already do so much. the people love you, and… i know this isn’t my business, but the queen… i mean, your mom has said that everyone’s counting on you and that this makes you worry a lot. is it true?”  
Chara nodded slowly and a sobbed, not being able to hide her desperation any longer. The book she had been reading fell on the ground, and she covered her face with her hands, ashamed of crying like that in front of Sans.  
The little skeleton felt as if a bubble had just pushed all his thoughts on the sides of his cranium, creating a void at the center of his mind. What could he do? What did she need?   
From what he had read, humans could be a lot jumpier about physical contact than monsters were, and Sans didn’t want to scare her.  
“uh… um, kid, please…”  
Sans tried a cautionary stroke to her hair to make her feel more at ease, and Chara looked at him with watery eyes, calming down a little.  
“I’m reading all these books about m-monsters and the barrier to understand h-how to free you, but- I can’t find any solutions. I’m so sorry.“  
Chara’s words became more and more confused, until she made a step forward and buried her face in Sans’s shoulder.   
The skeleton froze for a moment, then he relaxed and hugged her, stroking her back to cheer her up. Chara remained stiff in his hold but didn’t try to push him away. It was as if she didn’t know how to properly give affection back.  
“don’t you see how much you already do for us, just by being here?”  
“What… what do you mean?” she whispered, voice barely audible. “You’re the first people that ever treated me well, and I can’t even repay you right. I’m not doing anything.”  
Sans loosened his hold to look at her in the face. Chara had already wiped her tears with an angry gesture, her cheeks red with shame. She didn’t like to expose herself, especially to someone she didn’t know all that well. But it had happened, and she couldn’t do much about it now.   
“that’s not true. you brought back hope in the underground. the people are always goin’ to talk and make a fuss about everything, but you have to keep in mind that you’re just a kid. a smart kid, of course, maybe even too responsible for your age, but still a kid. so, please… enjoy your age. you can’t carry the whole world on your shoulders, k?” Chara still didn’t seem convinced and was quick to wear her blank expression again. Sans sighed. He didn’t know what to say to her. She seemed so absorbed by her own way of seeing things. “you said you’re havin’ a good time down with us, here, right?”  
Chara looked at him and nodded, looking a little suspicious.   
“Yes,” she said, with a creaky voice.  
“you said that no one has ever treated you well before us.”  
Chara hesitated. She seemed repented to have told that to Sans. But she nodded again.  
“then, just try to ease up a little, kid. if you don’t wanna do it for you, do it for your family. they’re worried about you, yanno? breakin’ down the barrier isn’t as important as your happiness. do you think that the other monsters would want to see you so sad about all this?”  
“No.”  
“see? everyone agrees on the fact that your peace of mind is too important to sacrifice in the name of some stupid research on the barrier.”  
Chara snorted. “But you’ve been trapped here for so long. And you said that it’s like living in captivity-“  
Sans sighed. “i know what i said, and it’s been really unfair on my part. listen, livin’ here isn’t so dramatic, in the end. maybe it’s a cage, but… yanno, at least i share it with a lot of good people, and the wait is worth it.”  
Sans finally managed to make Chara smile a little, before she remembered that she didn’t have to show any emotion.   
She made a step backward, took the book that had fallen on the ground, and breathed in deeply. Then, she was back to her usual self.  
“Pick up your stuff. I’ll get you out of here.”  
Sans nodded and obeyed, trying to not lose any books on the road. They didn’t talk much until they reached the exit, but Chara’s walk was more relaxed than before, and that made Sans feel less guilty about speaking his melancholic mind to a kid.


	4. This is why you were locked down here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara does a very questionable thing while researching for information about souls. Sans has a chat with the Queen and tries to drown his anguish with ketchup. Papyrus has to deal with the result of all this.

The days passed, one after the other, so similar that they blurred together.

Sans had fallen back into a routine and, slowly, he had gotten used to all the weirdness that surrounded him: his hazy memories, going in and out of his mind like flashes, his powers, both the Blasters and the vanishing thing, and, to put a cherry on the nauseating cake, even his judging job. He had learned to roll with all of this, trying to note down things in a diary to keep up with everything.

Writing always kept his mind stay clear and helped him made some sense of his scrambled thoughts, putting together the dots after a while he had been noting down things that happened to him.

Sans always carried the little diary in one of the big pockets of his pants, together with candies and all the junk that he used to bring with himself for every occasion, from woopie-cushions for pranks to scraps of MTT newspapers.

Sans passed a lot of time in the Royal Library, when he wasn’t busy with the judging job or pretending to work at his sentry post in Snowdin. He went there from time to time just to keep company to Papyrus and, since he had started to master his shortcuts – they came natural for him, who made of dodging responsibilities and uncomfortable situations an art -, he could allow himself to do everything in less time.

Papyrus had gotten really angry when he had discovered of Sans’s teleporting gig, and had decided to buy him a treadmill to exercise in his room at least… but they both knew that Sans wasn’t using it. He just turned on some old human gym classes from the eighties, put them in loop, and acted like the sounds of the treadmill where actually Sans’s doing. Even though the high-pitched orders of the instructress in the video were really hard to confuse with the little skeleton’s baritone voice, Sans had refused to admit that it wasn’t him the one talking.

However, Papyrus’s anger had been easy to pacify, especially because Sans had brought home all sorts of children books, since Chara had become his official dealer. The kid knew all the better stories, since she read a lot, even in the adult section of the Royal Library, and she always had something knew to suggest to Sans.

The little skeleton and the kid had gotten closer thanks to their private book club. Chara was the only person who didn’t get bored when Sans was raving about how great his brother was and how much Papyrus had enjoyed his bedtime story the previous night.

The kid seemed to like making Papyrus happy, and her anguish for not being able to save everyone had given the place to a more relaxed demeanor. It warmed Sans’s heart to finally see Chara smile to him, even though it was extremely rare. She still had the tendency to close into long silences and give cold answers, but she was getting better.

However, even if they had become almost friends, there was a barrier between them, preventing them from confiding completely in each other. A lot of unspoken things. Sans only knew his side of the whole deal: he remembered that Chara had something to do with him, but he preferred to not explore that dangerous territory. And neither did Chara.

So, they lingered in that weird and frail relationship, wanting to make it sturdier, but fearing the other nonetheless.

 

It was an extremely boring day, when Sans dragged his bones in the Royal Library, a bag of potato chips protruding from his pocket. He yawned and sank in an armchair, with an open book on his lap. It was a critical writing about black holes, filled with illustrations and theories about how they worked. Sans really liked the subject. He read while munching on the chips, getting crumbs all over himself.

However, even though he could’ve listened about black holes and such all day, he was wrapped up in a particularly puffy jacket and his stomach was filled with delicious garbage food… everything was perfect, and so comfy. His eyelids drooped progressively and he fell asleep on the armchair without even noticing, holding the book like a teddy bear.

“Wake up, wake up!”

A familiar shrill voice brought him back to the waking world, taking a grumble out of him.

“let me sleep… ‘m tired.”

“No. It’s important. Wake up!”

Chara’s voice nagged him until Sans groaned and opened his eye sockets. He was feeling as if his body had turned to lead, and he gave a crooked look to the human child.

“whaddayawant. don’t ya have anyone else to talk to? i was havin’ the best dream.”

Chara’s eyelids narrowed. “What was it about?”

Sans smiled, a dreamy expression on his face. “i was at home, sleepin’ in a new bed. it was really comfy. the comfiest bed.”

Chara rolled her eyes. “Gee, bag of bones. You’re so boring. Even your dreams are boring!”

“well, you don’t know how to ‘preciate the little things in life, then. i’m all about beds. should open a mattress store one day. i’d be the tester.”

Sans yawned again, rubbing his eye sockets, still gluey with sleep. He felt Chara’s curious stare inspecting him.

“Why are you always so tired? You sleep every time you put your head on something. Even on marble.”

“heh… it’s because of my… ehm.” Sans cleared his throat and massaged his chest, where his soul was thumping slowly, still soaked with sleepiness. That scar… Dr.Frake had said that it was going to give him problems, and she hadn’t been wrong. Sans had always been weak and fragile, but he had never been so tired. It was as if that scar in his soul, the grey area at the center of it, had been eating away at his energies, making him need more sleep than normal. Even more than _his_ normal. “what can i say? yanno i’m a lazybones. ‘s just that i like the snoozes, as much as you like readin’, bud.”

Chara sighed at his not-explanation – Sans always gave a lot of those - and directed towards the center of the Library to put down a few books she had borrowed. Sans meekly followed her, still rubbing his eye sockets. He was feeling as if he was going to fall asleep standing up very soon. That would have been an achievement, even for him.

“what you wanted to say to me, anyway?” asked Sans, yawning a third time, almost dislocating his jaw. “and where’s asriel? i always see you together.”

Chara shrugged. “In the garden, probably. Or playing in our room. Who knows.”

Sans frowned. “you two are inseparable. and yet, you only split when you’re coming here in the library. he doesn’t like books or what?”

“Well… he says they bore him” said Chara, looking away. Sans narrowed his eye sockets. Maybe she was a little manipulative, but she still lied like a kid.

“really?”

Chara gave Sans a warning look. “Don’t use your _seeing_ on me.”

The little skeleton was taken aback for a moment and put a hand on her arm. “i wasn’t usin’ it. yanno that i don’t like to pry-“

Chara freed herself from his hold and gave him her back. “Then, stop making stupid questions. You don’t have anything to worry about, Sans.”

“when you go all like ‘ya don’t hafta worry’, that’s precisely when i oughta do it.”

Sans didn’t know Chara that well, since she held her secrets and problems so close, but Sans could tell that he was right about this. His hunches were always motivated, one way or the other, even if his _seeing_ wasn’t involved, and Chara was hiding something important.

“to me it looks you’re tryin’ to keep asriel outta here. so he won’t know what you’re readin’.” Sans’s glare became more stern. “kid… you haven’t… you haven’t resumed reading that stupid stuff about the barrier… right?”

Chara hesitated, and Sans groaned, hiding his face behind his hands.

“oh, god, kid… ya promised…”

Chara’s mask crumbled in a second.

“I know I promised, but… I can’t stand this anymore. I have to do _something_. Every day it gets worse! They look at me that way and… I have to help them, somehow. Look, this is what I wanted to show you.” Chara put the book whose title she had been hiding on the table and opened it, going frenetically through the pages, until she found what she was searching for. She read aloud: “’Only a being with a powerful soul can go through the barrier. The only way to surpass it is to have both a human and a monster soul.’ So, there it is! All we need to break it are my soul and the soul of another monster, and then we can reach the surface! Asriel said that seven human souls are needed to break the barrier though, and…”

“i’ll stop ya right there, kid” whispered Sans, wrapping his bony fingers around her arms. His hold wasn’t firm, but Chara froze, looking at him with resentment in her eyes. “you… you can’t, okay? you’re just-“

“Stop saying that I’m just a kid! I’m not dumb, Sans!”

“i never said you were. but, i’ve already told you that it’s not good for you to think like this. if your soul got absorbed by a monster, it… it would kill you. no barrier is worth your life. or _any_ life, for the matter. there’s been enough death already.”

Chara bit her lip, looking away. Sans felt cold fingers of uneasiness wrapping around his soul. There it was again. That creepy light in her eyes.

“If me dying is what you need to take my soul and to be free, I’ll be happy to do it” she said, all of a sudden.

Sans shook his head. She was slipping between his fingers. He had to think of something that could persuade her, but what could do the trick? Chara was so hard to understand. So walled up in herself.

She remembered Sans of the doctor in certain ways, and that scared him more than he could tell. They both were destructive people, even though Chara had only shown the tendency to hurt herself, from what Sans had seen.

“no. _no_ , kid. how do you think a monster would feel, if they took your soul? no monster would ever even think about hurting you. they love you too much. i mean… think about your mom and dad, and about asriel. how would they feel if you died? please, chara… i know how it is to think you’re not enough, but- please, don’t say these things. you’re important, okay? to so many people.”

Hesitation crept on Chara’s features, her expression getting softer, making that creepy vibe go away for a moment.

“I know they would be sad… but, at least, they would be free.” It was Chara’s turn to grab Sans’s shoulders, making him look at her in the eyes. “Sans, this is the first good thing I decided to do in my life. I don’t really deserve to be here. I’m… a bad kid.”

Sans shook his head. “no, you’re not. whoever made you think that, they’re wrong, okay?”

He seemed to have hit a sore spot, because her eyes flashed with anger, but Chara calmed down right after that and gave Sans one of her rare smiles. It was sweet, almost comforting.

“It’s very kind of you to say this, but you don’t know me, Sans. The real me. No one does. And, if you did, you wouldn’t like me anymore.”

The temptation of peeking into Chara’s conscience became really strong, but Sans contained himself. He couldn’t do that. Not now. He would have lost her extremely fragile trust.

God, if only Sans had known her better… maybe he could have helped her. But like this… it was like stumbling in the darkness.

“listen, chara, even i did bad things. really bad things. but… i’m doin’ better now. i found a way to help others and feel useful, at least a little bit; so, if a bonehead like me can find his place… you can do that as well. i told ya, this isn’t the only way you can help. please. talk to your parents and your brother. they’ll help you see everything under another light. asgore helped me. he can do the same for you. so, _please_. whatever you have in mind, just drop it, for your own sake.”

Chara stared at him intensely, then sighed and let Sans go. She gave him her back, her shoulders slouched.

“I’ve been... watching you for a while, you know?” she whispered, her tone completely different, as if it had belonged to another person. Someone much colder and determined than Chara usually was. “I saw how you judged other monsters, and I think you’ve been really good at your job, even though you think you’re not. You always go beyond what you should do, don’t you? You’re like me, in a way. You’re always trying to save others… but you’re a little too compassionate. You should bestow justice on the people that actually deserve it.”

Sans frowned, and made a step back. “where’re you goin’ with this?”

“What I want to say is that you’d make a great partner, with someone to show you the right way.”

Chara suddenly flinched and fell to her knees, grabbing the table with her left hand. Sans’s uneasiness made him hesitate for a second, but then he knelt at her side, trying to get her back to her feet.

“kid! is everythin’ alright?”

Chara smiled a little. She was pressing a hand on her chest, her fingers digging in the jumper. “Yes. Don’t worry. It’s just- hng…. It’s a little hard to do this for a human. If you’re not… well… _dead_.”

Sans was feeling lost. He didn’t understand what was going on and that terrified him. Something was wrong. Something really bad was about to happen.

“then, stop it. kid, whatever you’re doin’-“

Sans’s voice went out like the light of a candle, when he noticed a red glow under Chara’s fingers. It was getting brighter by the second, and Sans witnessed the manifestation of Chara’s soul with wide eye sockets. He had never seen the soul of a human so up-close. It was mesmerizing. Its light drew his sight into it, and Sans felt like he couldn’t do anything but stare at it, his mind completely blank.

Chara was sweating, as she took the soul in her hands. It hovered gently above her fingers, a little red heart. A soul filled with determination. “You don’t know how much I had to practice to be able to evoke it at will, and it’s still so difficult to get it out of my body… almost painful, sometimes. But there it is. How do you like it?”

Sans swallowed. He had to get out of the Library. Now.

But he seemed unable to shortcut, and his legs were unresponsive. His whole body, in fact, felt as if it had been possessed by an external force, pouring into him from above.

“kid… put… p-put it away…” Sans said, his voice barely audible. His soul’s thumping was adjusting to the same rhythm of the little red heart, and he couldn’t stop staring at it. “please… it shouldn’t- _hehe_ … it, uhm, shouldn’t stay out like this. it’s… uh… dangerous.”

Even though he couldn’t look at her, Sans felt Chara smiling.

“So, that book was right. This is why humans were so afraid of you and locked you down here.”

Sans tried with all his might to snap out of it, and he only managed to make his fingers twitch. He couldn’t even think. The sole presence of the human soul so near to his was making him feel drunk with energy, draining all of his will away.

The soul was there, in the open, a few centimeters from his hands. He only had to lift one, take that little beacon of power, and shove it in his chest. Its presence was already making him feel so warm and mindlessly happy, as if he had just found what he had needed all his life.

_what if i just touch it for a moment? it won’t do any harm. i just wanna hold it. chara doesn’t mind, right? i’d take care of-_

Sans realized what he had been thinking and his insides turned in horror.

 _no, i can’t._ i can’t _. if i take it, there’ll be no goin’ back. i don’t even know what i’ll become._

“… you can’t really resist the urge to take a human soul, once you see it. It takes an iron self-control to not do that. It must be painful for you to not snatch it away from my hands, right now.”

Chara’s voice finally got through the thick wall of fog surrounding Sans’s mind, and he jerked away, slumping on the floor.

Sans whimpered, as he dug his fingers in the carpet, trying to drag himself as far as he could. His skull was covered in sweat, and his bones were aching. His soul was trying to pull back, still thumping at the same rhythm of the human soul. It was like fighting against gravity.

Chara reached out and grabbed Sans’s foot, putting him back into place.

“please, don’t- don’t make me…” he slurred, curling up, his eye sockets closed to not look at Chara’s soul.

Chara felt sorry for him. Sans’s whole body was shaking, and he was clutching at his chest as if he had been trying to contain something.

“If you stop resisting, it won’t hurt anymore. I don’t like to see you suffer. Please, just let go. You can’t fight it off forever.”

Sans shook his head. “you don’t know… what you’re doin’… when a monster takes a human soul, he becomes too dangerous. the power goes to his head! please, put it away. chara, this’s not the only way-“

Chara held Sans’s right hand, trying to soothe his shivers.

“I know you won’t use this power to do bad things, Sans.”

Sans almost laughed. Power corrupted. No one was immune from it. He had seen what it had done to the doctor, and Sans knew he was not going to be different.

Chara stayed in silence for a moment, then she spoke more softly. “ _I remember_.”

That sentence was enough to make Sans open his eye sockets. “w-what?”

“I remember everything. The first time I saw you, in the Core. Your bones were cracked, and you looked ill and malnourished. What did that doctor do to you? Were you his little plaything?”

Sans couldn’t believe what he was hearing. So, she knew too… he wasn’t… he _wasn’t_ crazy. That single notion was so incredible that he didn’t even mind being called the doctor’s plaything.

The wave of relief Sans felt made him lower his guard, and a white glow peeked through his fingers. Chara smiled to herself. She had said the right thing.

“so you know… you know about him too…” Sans felt like he was going to cry. “’m not insane…”

“Of course you’re not. Your remembering probably has to do something with DT. The doctor told me about it and how he had used it on you. He wanted to extract DT from my soul to repeat the experiment, right?”

“y-yea. yea, i remember that. i knew he was gonna hurt you.”

“And you just couldn’t sit back and let him do that to me, did you?”

Sans slowly shook his head. His eyelids were starting to droop, as he relaxed. He was still trying to prevent his soul from coming out of his ribcage, but he was far less convinced.

“i… i was tired of seein’ him hurtin’ others… paps, and then, you. i…” It was so liberating to talk with someone who knew. It was incredible. Everyone, even Papyrus, deep down, didn’t believe him: but with Chara it was different. Sans felt like he wasn’t going to be alone anymore. “i wanted to give ya the time to escape. i thought i was gonna die there. but then-”

“You saved me” said Chara, smiling at Sans. “You saved my life. And now, together, we can save the whole Underground. You only have to let go.”

Sans looked at her with hazy eye lights. “kid…”

“Please, Sans. Out of all the monsters I met, I feel like I can trust you with this. I want to make things better, but I can’t do it alone. I need your help.”

Chara pushed her soul a few centimeters forward, and Sans gulped. He couldn’t resist. The energy of the human soul was intoxicating. It made his head spin and his bones melt.

Sans’s left hand slipped from his chest, and he finally surrendered, not being able to fight any longer. His breathing instantly slowed, and the pain went away, as his soul exited his chest, getting closer to Chara’s.

He closed his eye sockets and slumped in the kid’s arms.

 

“Sans! Sans, are you okay?”

The little skeleton breathed in a little deeper and put a familiar face into focus.

“your majesty?”

Toriel smiled at him, looking relieved. Her sweet black eyes checked Sans for any sort of damage, as she was holding something shiny in her right hand.

“wh… what’s that?” whispered Sans.

“Oh.” Toriel sheepishly avoided his stare. “I found this on the ground, right next to you. It’s your… your soul, my friend. Please, put it back in.” The queen gently pushed the soul towards Sans, and it entered his chest. The little skeleton felt a little better, as the quiet warmth of his soul resumed distributing magic in his body. “What happened?”

Sans scratched his head. “i… i don’t know. i was sleepin’ on an armchair over there, and then-“

He choked on his words.

Chara.

Where did she go?

Sans looked around, a knot in his throat. The kid… what had happened to the kid? Did she do it? Were they- had they _merged_?

No. He couldn’t feel Chara’s presence in his soul. It was still white, without any trace of weird magic – besides what the doctor had already done to him.

So, Chara’s plan had failed.

Probably Toriel had entered the library, and the kid had been forced to go away. Yeah, that had to be it.

Sans didn’t remember what happened after his soul had left his chest. He only knew that he hadn’t been able to resist anymore; he had just surrendered to the feeling. It had been pure luck if the merging hadn’t taken place.

_thank god._

But now… what was he supposed to do? He had to tell this to someone, in case Chara tried to pull such a stunt again. He had to tell Toriel, at least. She was Chara’s mother. If there was someone who could make that kid reason, it was her.

**But Chara trusts you. If you do this, she will think you have betrayed her.**

_well… better her feeling betrayed, than she trying this stuff again. she had gotten me. i wasn’t goin’ to escape… i couldn’t do it. it was like i wasn’t in control anymore._

Sans opened his mouth to explain Toriel what had happened, but he froze, when his eye lights crossed paths with two brown eyes, staring at him from behind a bookshelf. The expression of those eyes… Sans knew he wasn’t going to forget it anytime soon.

They were ice-cold, all the kindness completely gone. They were giving Sans a warning: “try to speak about this to someone, and you’ll regret it”.

Sans suddenly felt weak and old. Oh, so old… and worn out.

 _not again. not_ this _again._

He had already closed an eye about a friend’s wrongdoings in the past, because he had gotten too close to him, and that had ended up with both Sans and Papyrus locked in a lab. How was it going to end with Chara, if Sans didn’t put a stop to her little plans when he still could? She was just a kid, it was true… and, maybe, she could still be corrected, if someone kept an eye on her… but it couldn’t be Sans. He couldn’t take another blow at his soul. One crack was already one too many.

The Queen looked behind her shoulders, following Sans’s stare, but, when her eyes reached Chara’s hiding place, the kid had already retreated under a mountain of books.

“What are you looking at, friend?” she asked.

“nothin’.”

Sans sighed deeply, and Toriel helped him get up. His knees were still unsteady, but he could walk.

“Are you fine now?”

“yea. i’m just a little dizzy.”

“Why did you take out your soul like that?”

“heh. uhm… i was just tryin’ to examine some memories and i’ve fallen asleep, ‘cause they were so boring. the soul must’ve fallen while i was snoozin’.”

Toriel sighed. “Please, be careful, Sans. Souls are fragile things.”

Sans nodded. He knew that all too well.

A sudden thought made him freeze for a second.

Had Toriel noticed the scar on his soul?

Sans shivered and hugged himself, trying to make it pass as him crossing his arms. He only could hope that Toriel hadn’t seen that awful grey streak; he didn’t have any intention to talk about it with anyone but Papyrus.

“You look a little down. Would a slice of pie make you feel better?”

Sans nodded. That was the perfect occasion to talk to her without Chara eavesdropping on them.

 

“She tried to force you to take her soul?” whispered Toriel, her eyes wide.

Sans nodded slowly, a shiver going through him at the thought of what could have happened. If he had taken it, he would have become a menace for everyone, both monsters and humans. Chara’s determination, and his magic. What a horrifying concoction. The only obstacle between Chara’s desire to punish humanity being the weak will of Sans, who had barely managed to keep her away for a few minutes. If their souls had merged and the kid had decided to pulverize the whole surface through him, Sans wouldn’t have been able to stop her.

Toriel caressed Sans’s head with one of her paws, and the little skeleton closed his eye sockets for a moment, enjoying her soft touch. He was in a desperate need of comfort, and the Queen’s motherly demeanor made him feel slightly better. It was nice to pretend that they were friends, even if it was for just a moment.

However, what Toriel said after that, made Sans’s soul drop in his invisible stomach.

“You probably got it wrong, Sans.”

“wh… what?”

Toriel took one of his hands with hers and caressed it, smiling gently.

“I know Chara. She’s a little confused and can act… bossy, sometimes, but she would never force someone to do something against their will. You must have just misunderstood, that’s all.”

“your majesty-“

No. He couldn’t let this pass. She had to believe him. To listen to him. God, why did people never listen to him? Did he look that unreliable?

“You must be really tired, now. Why don’t you go home? You’re finished for today, aren’t you?”

Was she trying to ditch him?

“no, i’m fine, really. uh… yes, ‘m finished, but-“

“Then, you should go.”

“but, your majesty… i didn’t imagine all this. chara… she… i m-mean, how do you think my soul ended on the ground?”

Toriel cleared her throat. She looked pained, and she couldn’t bear to look at him.

“I don’t know, Sans. You’re a little clumsy, everyone knows that; and you always fall asleep in weird places. You probably had a nightmare, and… you know… not that I don’t think your heart is not in a good place! But Chara couldn’t have possibly done this. Th-there’s no way. I… I know my child. No, she wouldn’t have done this.”

Sans shook his head in disbelief. How many proofs did he have to bring Toriel to make her see the truth?

“your majesty, you know i wouldn’t tell you this if i hadn’t a good reason. i don’t like to upset you, but this isn’t the first time chara said weird things to me.” Sans paused and massaged his chest, looking away. His soul was aching a little, the pain focused around the edges of the scar, but Toriel’s cake and hot tea had warmed it up a little. “i talked to the kid many times, listened to her, tried to make her ease up… to make her reconsider what she had in mind. i’m sorry i even kept this from you for this long, since i thought she was gonna talk to you by herself… b-but… this time she went too far. and i don’t want chara to end up hurtin’ herself or anyone else. you should, uh, keep an extra eye on her or somethin’. don’t wanna tell ya how to take care of your kids, ‘cause i don’t know absolutely nothin’ about that… it’s just for precaution, ya know? i’m… kinda worried, to be honest.”

It wasn’t like Sans was implying Toriel wasn’t capable enough to take care of Chara. He would’ve never even dreamed of doing such a thing. Sans had only told the Queen what was necessary, even though his own soul was twisting uncomfortably while doing this.

_maybe the queen thinks it’s her fault, if chara behaves this. maybe she feels guilty ‘cause she hasn’t noticed anythin’ before._

Toriel took a deep breath in and she kneeled in front of Sans. She put her hands on his shoulders and stared at him in the face.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that- I’m sorry. I will be more careful with her. It’s just that… it’s so frustrating, sometimes. I do my best to make her feel at ease, but-“ Toriel sighed. “I didn’t have much success, apparently.”

Sans felt so relieved the Queen had listened to him that he almost wanted to hug her. But he couldn’t go around and hug the Royal Family like that… besides, he had already made Toriel uncomfortable enough. “chara’s really bottled up. i think she keeps lotsa things to herself. it’s not your fault, though. i can tell she loves you lots, and in a sincere way. i think the kid’s just confused… she needs someone to talk to her. for real. and i can’t be the one to do it. i’ve already messed everything up enough.”

Toriel shook her head. “Don’t say that, my friend. You have already done a lot for her. I am so sorry that you had to endure this, but… thank you for looking after her and for finding the courage to tell me this.” She smiled back. Her eyes were waterier than usual, but Sans pretended to not have noticed that. “I’m so sorry for the things I said before. It was really stupid of me. I don’t think you’re untrustworthy, the opposite actually, but-”

“no, no, it’s okay. i don’t mind. besides, it’s true that i fall asleep in weird places, so… yea. i just hope everythin’ goes well with chara. i didn’t really want to expose her like this, but closin’ an eye on her won’t work anymore, ‘m afraid. i hope she won’t hate me too much for… y-yanno… betrayin’ her trust.”

“Oh, no. She would never do that. You did what you thought was right, and, in the end, I’m glad you told me, Sans. It could have been dangerous if you hadn’t.”

Sans smiled, but, deep down, he knew Toriel wasn’t completely right. Chara was a frail and grudging individual, under her façade of determination. If someone didn’t do things her way, she took it personally, even more so if the person in question had obtained even a fraction of her trust.

Their friendship, or whatever they had had until that point, was over. Sans had just sealed the destruction of their bond by talking with Toriel.

He hated to talk behind someone’s back, to be a spy, but it was better like this. No other monster had to face Chara trying to make the soul merge ever again.

That kid. She really didn’t know how many things could go wrong, messing with magic of that kind.

 

A soft “thud” told Papyrus that Sans had just appeared on the porch. The tall skeleton took a peek through the kitchen window.

“TALK ABOUT TIME, BROTHER. DINNER IS READY! DO YOU PLAN ON GETTING INSIDE OR… SANS? SANS, ARE YOU OKAY?”

The heap of clothes and bones gave a sluggish chuckle.

“yea, nnnnever been b-better, bro! jusss... jusssst a little… woah-“ Sans’s knees wobbled and he fell in the snow.

He just stood there, chuckling to himself.

Papyrus exited the house, already worried, leaving his precious spaghetti behind for a moment. He kneeled at Sans’s side and put a hand on his skull.

The little skeleton was unusually hot, and he had two little blue spots on his cheekbones. The stains of ketchup on his hoodie were the last proof Papyrus needed.

“YOU’RE DRUNK!”

“wha… me? drunk? i don’t know what – hic! – you’re talkin’bout bro. i just had a bottle of ketchup at grillbz… to, ya know, soothe the nerves i don’t – hic! – have. i don’t know why he didn’t want to give me more. i mean – hic! – ‘m like his best costumer – hic! – and ‘m not even that drunk! see?”

Sans tried to get up and failed miserably, falling in the snow again. He brought Papyrus with him, and resumed giggling.

“YEAH, I CAN SEE HOW NOT DRUNK YOU ARE, BROTHER.”

“g-good. ‘cause – hic! – ‘m not!”

In the last few weeks Sans had started to do so much better. Papyrus had been so proud of him that he had barely contained the urge to tell the whole Snowdin that his brother had been finally recognized as the very important person that he was… and there Sans was now, in the snow, chuckling like a mental case.

However, Sans wouldn’t have gotten this drunk without some reason. _Something_ had happened to him.

“LET’S GET YOU INSIDE” said Papyrus, offering Sans a hand. His brother took it, and followed him without resisting, dragging his slippers in the snow. Papyrus brought him to the sofa and sat by his side.

Sans was still having the hiccups, and he leaned on Papyrus’s shoulder, hugging his arm, while mumbling something about how much he loved his little bro. Sans always got sentimental when he was drunk.

Also, he spoke his mind far more easily than when he was sober.

“BROTHER?”

“mnnn… yesss?”

“WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?”

Sans tried to give a caress to Papyrus’s face and he mistakenly put a finger in his eye socket.

“ACK- SANS!”

“aw, you don’t wanna some cuddles from your big bro? you were nicer as a babybones… never complained back then.”

“Sans, you put a finger in my eye socket.”

“oh. ‘m sorry… hehe… it’s just that you’re moving a lot. i can’t aim right.”

“Maybe because you’re drunk.”

“no, ’m not. hic!”

Papyrus rolled his eye lights. “FINE. IF YOU SAY SO. ANYWAYS, STOP STALLING AND TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED.”

“hic! i told you, i went to – hic! – grillbys, and… hic!... i drank some ketchup. he kicked me out… that was so harsh…hic! i thought we were friends.”

Sans started sobbing quietly at the idea of Grillby ditching him like that, denying him the comfort of his beloved ketchup.

Papyrus patted his brother on the head to ease his drunk crying. “SANS, YOU HAVE ALREADY TOLD ME ALL THIS.”

“oh, yea? hic! – there you go, then. hic! there’s not much else to say. pretty boring day, bro.”

Papyrus sighed. He didn’t want to use his secret weapon, but if Sans was going to be like this…

“BROTHER, HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOUR PROMISE?”

Sans looked at him with a confused expression, wiping the tears off his skull with his sleeve. “which promise?”

“SANS! OH MY GOD! YOU HAD PROMISED TO BE MORE HONEST WITH ME!”

Sans thought about it for a few seconds, then he remembered. Oh, yes. He had promised. Ugh… such a stupid thing to have done. Why did he always put himself in the worst positions? Was is some sort of hidden talent? Probably the only one he had, besides attracting a worrying amount of people who wanted to use him for their purposes.

“you’re right. um. can’t you – hic! - let it slide, this time?”

“SANS. I’M GOING TO TAKE ALL THE KETCHUP IN THE HOUSE AND THROW IT AWAY.”

Sans’s eye sockets widened. “no, you – hic! – wouldn’t.”

“OH YES. YES, I WOULD.”

Sans felt cornered and took a deep breath. He didn’t have much choice. Not when his secret stashes were involved.

“but you’re g-gonna worry, if i tell ya. ‘n you’re gonna be all apprehensive on me… again. hic! ‘m fine, really.”

“SANS.”

How was it that Papyrus could say his name in so many ways, each one with a different shade of loving sternness in it?

“okay, okay. fffffine. hic! you win.”

Sans sighed and told him about what had happened with Chara. How the kid had tried to make him absorb her soul.

“it was… there… i was t-tryin’ to run away, to escape, but i couldn’t do anythin’. hic! i was h-hypnotized by that thing. i even thought… i’ve considered… hic!... the option of takin’ it. its light was like… some kind of drug. hic! i don’t even know. in the end i couldn’t s-stop it anymore. hic! the last thing i was conscious of was that my soul had left my chest. hic! and then, i woke up later. hic! the queen had found me, and the kid had run away.”

Sans swallowed. Another hiccup shook him, and he sighed.

“i warned the queen about th-this. she said she’ll keep an eye on the human kid. hic! at least i hope she will. she… almost didn’t want to believe me.”

They stayed in silence for a little while. Papyrus was rubbing Sans’s back, and the little skeleton had relaxed more and more, leaning on his brother.

“WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED, IF THE HUMAN PERSON HAD SUCCEEDED?”

Sans took Papyrus’s hand and played with his bony fingers, frowning.

“i’m not sure. hic! th-the last reports of monsters absorbing a human soul are extremely old, and when we got stuck here –hic! - our grandpas didn’t have the time to bring all our science with them. but ch-chara was readin’ this book in the royal library, that said a monster can’t really fight the absorption, if he finds a human soul. the temptation is too s-strong… hic!... and i agree with that. i c-couldn’t resist. if toriel hadn’t reached us, i… i would’ve…” Sans shook his head. Better not think about the “would’ve”s. “from what i know, once two souls merge, the stronger will is the one that gains control. if she had g-gotten me, she could’ve used my powers as she wished. and… hic!... and i’m afraid she was goin’ to go outside and kill seven humans to break us free. or maybe, d-do somethin’ even worse.”

Papyrus looked at Sans in shock. “BUT- SHE’S JUST A KID.”

“yea. one really, _really_ messed up kid.” Sans sighed. “but… you’re right. she’s still a kid. she’s not… b-bad. she’s just… so lost. it kinda m-makes me sad. hic! but she gave me a good scare, that’s for sure. yanno, i don’t… i don’t know what i’d do if i c-couldn’t see ya again, and with chara controllin’ my soul, i would’ve-”

“Oh, now I know why you are such a sad sack today!” Papyrus caressed Sans’s skull. “The great Papyrus is here, brother. No one is going to take you away anytime soon. I will not let them! Who would bother me all day with terrible puns, if you weren’t here?”

Sans’s eye lights trembled a little. His brother was such a treasure. “y-yea. who would be such an ass, r-right?”

“NO LEWD WORDS, BROTHER. Besides, you’re not an a… i mean, a butt at all.”

Papyrus hugged Sans to comfort him, and they stayed like that for a little while, absorbed by their own thoughts. The only sounds in the room were the pasta boiling on the stove, now overcooked, and Sans’s soft hiccups.

“BROTHER?”

“yes?”

“WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW? ARE YOU GOING… TO DO YOUR JOB LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED?” Papyrus hugged him tighter. “WHAT IF SHE DOES THAT AGAIN? CAN’T YOU STAY AT HOME FOR A WHILE?”

“well… hic! that’s why i had to tell toriel. i’ll let chara’s parents handle this, and i’ll do my best to avoid her. even though…”

“EVEN THOUGH?”

“i still feel s-sorry for the kid. hic! chara’s got some real bad ideas stuck in her head. hic! she thinks she doesn’t deserve bein’ here with us, and that it doesn’t matter if she d-dies.”

“This… this isn’t a nice thing to think.”

“yea. i tried to talk to her, but… hic! she doesn’t listen to me.” Sans groaned and scratched his skull. “gah! i feel like a broken record… hic! the doctor was the same way. no matter what i told him, he just… wouldn’t listen!”

Sans knew that it had no use talking to Papyrus about the doctor, since he didn’t remember him, nor thought that Sans’s memories were real, but Sans couldn’t help talking about them sometimes. He still thought about the doctor far more than he would’ve liked to.

“sometimes, hic!,  i feel like what i do doesn’t affect anything at all. it’s so frustratin’. hic! thank god, at least toriel has listened to me.”

Papyrus looked offended.

“WELL, BROTHER, I always LISTEN TO YOU.”

Sans chuckled and stroked Papyrus’s head, avoiding his eye socket, this time. “yea. hic! i know you do. thanks, bro.”

“EVEN THOUGH YOU SAY SOME REALLY STUPID THINGS, SOMETIMES.”

“aaaaaand you ruined the moment. hic! thanks.”

“YOU’RE WELCOME, BROTHER. SOMEONE HAS TO KEEP YOU GROUNDED, YOU KNOW?”

“yea… hic!”

“AND NOW WE ARE GOING TO MAKE THAT CURSED HICCUPS GO AWAY AS WELL.”

“that – hic! – ‘d be great.”


	5. Have another slice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus has a nightmare. Sans is late for work and Asgore tries to bribe him with a piece of cake. Something goes terribly wrong, and there are two accidental victims.

Sans made sure to stay true to his word: he avoided Chara every time he heard her little footsteps silently approach him, and he blipped out of reality, reappearing in another section of the Royal Palace when her voice called his name.

Sans knew his behavior wasn’t exactly the one of a responsible adult, but he was too scared of the possibility Chara could try to make him absorb her soul again. It was very unlikely that she could do such a thing, since every servant in the palace was now secretly watching over the child on Toriel’s demand, but… it was better to not take any risks.

Besides, Sans felt nauseous remembering that he had snitched on Chara - a very unstable, guilt-driven kid. Having all that attention on her, couldn’t be good for mental well-being: she wasn’t allowed to wander alone anymore, and the Dreemurs had become more apprehensive than ever.

Even though Sans was keeping the kid away, sometimes he still looked at her from a safe distance, and he could see that she wasn’t happy with all this. Not one, tiny bit.

But what else could Sans have done? No matter what he had said or how much he had tried to cheer her up, how long he had listened to her or if he had offered his comprehension… nothing had worked.

He had tried his best. But, as Sans had been forced to realize while dealing with the doctor, most of the times his best wasn’t enough.

Sans sighed and rubbed his eye sockets. He was laying in his bed, staring outside the small window of his room. The light of Snowdin’s lanterns was coming through the glass, casting a blueish shadow on the ground. In that dreamy light, the trend-mill looked like an ominous alien machinery.

The house was silent, and the only noise were Sans’s tired breaths.

The day had been quite a good one, devoid of judgements and people trying to mess with him. In the evening, Sans had watched the last episode of ‘In love with a killer robot’ together with Papyrus, and then he had retreated to his room.

He had expected sleep to come easily, since he had already dozed off a couple of times while watching the show, but, as soon as he had put his head on the pillow, the sleepiness had vanished. He was tired, sure, both physically and mentally, but he couldn’t make himself fall asleep. There was some kind of bad feeling at the bottom of his soul, needling him.

He had used to be a skeleton of science; he didn’t believe in predictions and “hunches”, besides what his _seeing_ told him. He knew that his paranoia, making horrible images go through his non-existent brain, was irrational and useless.

And yet, not all the logic in the world was enough to make him lose consciousness.

Sans looked at the alarm and sighed. It was three in the morning. He had to wake up in four hours, since Asgore had warned him about an important judgement, and Sans couldn’t let him down, even though that required him to wake up far sooner than usual.

The little skeleton turned around, looking at the ceiling. He had glued glowing stickers of planets and stars on it. They always soothed him, since, if he squinted, he could pretend those were real stars.

But now…

Sans sighed again and sat on his bed, rubbing his eye sockets. He needed to sleep. He needed it so badly. The last three nights had been nightmares all around, with the purple shadow looming over him, trying to get a grip on his soul and whispering unsettling things in his ears.

Sans could never remember what that creature said to him, but it was enough to make him wake up all covered in sweat.

“well… if nothing’s gonna work, here…” whispered Sans, grabbing his pillow.

He hated to be such a bother, but that was the only thing he still hadn’t tried.

Sans got up, carrying his pillow with him, and materialized by Papyrus’s bed side.

His brother was mumbling in his sleep, his fingers clutching at the femur plushy Sans had given him ages before.

It warmed Sans’s soul to know that Papyrus was still keeping that ugly thing around.

“pap… ‘m gonna lay down here somewhere, okay?” whispered Sans. He just wanted to warn his brother. Usually, even if Papyrus was asleep, he managed to make some space for Sans.

The little skeleton climbed on his brother’s bed and cuddled by his side. He put his head on Papyrus’s chest and listened to his soul’s humming. Sans’s soul started to follow his brother’s rhythm; relaxation slowly crept over him, and he melted between the covers, one arm around Papyrus’s body.

Sans was on the verge of losing consciousness, when soft whimpers broke through his sleepiness. The sounds of distress became too loud to ignore, until Sans opened his eye sockets. A strong glow was emanating from Papyrus’s soul, making his ribs visible through his pajamas. Sans felt his brother’s anguish as if it had been his own, and he held Papyrus’s hands, trying to comfort him.

“NO… NO, DON’T…”

“bro… bro, wake up… it’s just a dream…”

“DON’T… HE CAN’T TAKE IT…”

“pap… please… wake up!”

Sans shook him gently, and Papyrus jolted awake, opening his eye sockets. He sat all of a sudden, and the brothers’ craniums collided with a loud “tonk”.

“ow…”

“HOLY MOLY! THAT HURT!”

“you can say that… ow…”

Papyrus blinked a few times, while rubbing his skull, and then he looked at Sans.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, BROTHER?”

Sans kept rubbing his left eye socket. He couldn’t open it. Papyrus’s cheekbone had hit him right there, and his eye was throbbing painfully.

“i just… i couldn’t sleep, so i came here. but ‘m not the one who woke up screaming, this time.”

Papyrus frowned, then he remembered, and a shiver went through his body. “Oh. Yes. I am very sorry about that. I didn’t mean to wake you, Sans.”

“it’s okay… ‘m the one who came here, so…” Sans cleared his throat.

“LET ME SEE THAT EYE SOCKET OF YOURS. DOES IT HURT?”

“it’s nothin’, really. um... it’s better if i go back to my room. maybe my nightmares are contagious. you never know, right? hehe… love ya. g’night.”

Papyrus rolled his eye lights and wrapped an arm around Sans’s little body before he could leave. “LET ME SEE IT, SANS.”

Sans grumbled and lowered the hand under which he had hidden his injured eye socket. He tried to open his left eye, and he hissed. His vision was blurred, and the eye was tearing up. Glistening drops were falling on Sans’s pajamas, covering it in stains.

“OH MY GOD, BROTHER. DID I HIT YOU THAT HARD?”

“no, no. it’s fine, really. it’s already hurtin’ less.”

“SO IT DOES HURT.”

“errrm…”

“I’m so sorry. I should be less clumsy around you. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, usually I’m more careful-”

“wha… no. no, no, paps, it’s…”

“STAY STILL, I WILL HEAL YOU RIGHT AWAY, BROTHER.”

Sans saw a green light through the fog in his left eye socket, and the pain slowly retreated, until it vanished. He blinked a few times to test the eye, and he smiled to Papyrus.

“thanks, bro. ‘s alright, now. but ya didn’t hafta…”

Papyrus laid at his side and held Sans in a hug. “You should exercise more, brother. It’s not good, if a little hit is enough to fracture your eye socket.”

Sans sighed. _Exercising_. As if that could be enough to make his pathetic health rise. He had always been like this. There wasn’t any chance to get better. He had tried real hard, in the past, and it had given him no improvement whatsoever. So, he had stopped trying all together, deciding he was going to use his time alive to do things that he liked instead… like sleeping, eating and making his brother go nuts with his terrific sense of humor.

“i told ya it’s fine, bro. thank ya for healin’ me, but… listen, you’re the one who was havin’ a nightmare, not me. you’re the one who needs some talkin’, here. so… is everythin’ alright? what were ya dreamin’ about?”

A shadow obscured Papyrus’s eye sockets, and annoyed and slightly worried expression turned into a scared one.

“It… it was a very unsettling dream, brother.”

Sans made him sign to go on, and Papyrus shuffled uncomfortably in the covers. He hugged his brother tighter to find some comfort, and Sans didn’t protest, even though he was feeling like a particularly squished teddy bear.

“I dreamed that we were in some dark office building. We were trying to get out, but we couldn’t… and we were being followed by a tall shadow with purple eyes.”

Sans’s body stiffened, but Papyrus didn’t notice.

“and what did it want to, y-yanno…  to do with us?” Sans whispered, while looking at the ceiling. The room was completely dark, the only light coming from Papyrus’s soul. It was dimmer now, but his agitation still came through.

“That thing… it took you, brother. I tried to stop it, but- and then it was hurting you, and I couldn’t do anything about it” whispered Papyrus. “It felt very real. I am so sorry.”

“for what? pap… it was just a dream.”

Sans’s voice cracked on the last word. He knew it wasn’t just a dream. It terrified him that Papyrus could remember some of the horrors in their past.

“But it felt… so real. It’s like your nightmares, Sans. Now I know what you mean, when you say they feel too real to be fake.”

Sans didn’t know what to say.

Papyrus looked at him and smiled. “But, now that you are here, it’s less scary. I am sure I will sleep better.”

“y-yea. me too. ‘m happy to be of some help, bro.”

Papyrus continued to talk about more lighthearted things, and, even though Sans had tensed up at the mention of the doctor, he started to doze off, surrounded by a soft cloud of chattering. Maybe his brother was going to remember, one day. Maybe Sans didn’t have to be alone. But he had already told Papyrus everything he knew about the doctor… he wasn’t going to hammer on that anymore. Sans didn’t want to put pressure on Papyrus or to curse him with the same, awful moments Sans was forced to relive every night. That would’ve been abysmal, even for him.

 

The next morning, Sans appeared in the gardens of the Royal Palace when he was still putting on his slippers. He was late. More late than he had ever been since he had started that stupid job. And, obviously, it had to happen on the single day he didn’t have to be late for.

The little skeleton looked around and cursed under his teeth, when he realized that he wasn’t in the Judgement Hall. His magic could be really imprecise, if he wasn’t focusing, especially his shortcuts. Even though Sans had gotten a lot of practice with them, sometimes they didn’t work properly. While using them, he had to focus on a location, and, if an errand thought got in between, he could end up on the opposite part of the Underground. For example, when he was hungry, he often appeared at Grillby’s, instead of at his workplace.

Sans thought intensely about Asgore, and a thin layer of magic surrounded him, bending space around his body for a millisecond.

“ARGH!”

Sans fell on a table, bringing down with him a tablecloth and a teapot that landed on his head. The thing was big enough to swallow his skull, and a wave of hot tea spilled on his clothes.

“gnn!”

Sans tried to take the teapot off his head, but it was stuck on his cervical vertebrae. He got up, starting to panic, and wobbled under the weight of the teapot. He would’ve fallen on the stone floor, if a soft hand hadn’t grabbed him.

“Golly, Sans!” Asgore’s deep chuckles made Sans even more embarrassed. Why did he always have to make himself ridiculous in front of the king? That wasn’t intentional comedy. “I didn’t think you were so eager to drink my tea. Do you need a hand?”

 “y-yea, please! my skull is full of tea! ‘s not really pleasant.”

Asgore helped Sans out of the teapot, and the little skeleton gasped for air. Another wave of warm tea exited his skull, and Sans patted his jaw, trying to get the last remains out.

The king put him gently on the ground and examined him with a worried expression.

“Oh, look at you. You’re soaked.”

“’s okay” said Sans, while squeezing his sweatshirt. He had already made Asgore lose enough time. “what did ya want to tell me, your ma- uhm, asgore?”

The king scratched his beard thoughtfully and then kneeled down in front of Sans.

He took off his heavy purple cloak and wrapped the little skeleton with it. Sans stopped squeezing tea out of his clothes and looked at the king with wide eye sockets.

“It’s better to stay covered” said Asgore, smiling down at him.

“but, your majesty-“

“Asgore.”

“yea, asgore… i’m fine, really. i don’t wanna get your cloak dirty.”

The king pretended to not hear him and he helped Sans to sit on Toriel’s chair, on the usual mountain of books. The little skeleton held the cloak close, looking away, and he cleared his throat.

“s-so… what was that judgement that you wanted to talk me about?” he said, trying to not drown in awkwardness.

Asgore took the teapot and patted Sans’s cranium to shush him. “Important matter are best…”

“… discussed in front of a cup of tea” sighed Sans.

Asgore laughed and gave him another pat. Before Toriel, now him; the Dreemurs had some kind of obsession with Sans’s skull.

“It’s not only for that. I will bring you some clothes as well. I have some of my old clothes, when I was in kindergarten, that should fit you well.”

“oh, thanks, your majesty. i didn’t realize i was your kindergarten size.”

Asgore’s face reddened under the fur. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

Sans chuckled. The king truly had a sarcasm shield. “it’s fine. ‘m just jokin’. bring them if ya want… ‘s not like you gonna not do that, if i tell ya.”

Asgore seemed happy with his answer and vanished for a few minutes. When he came back, he had some baby-sized clothes on his shoulder and a clean, steaming teapot in his hands.

“Here they are” said Asgore.

Sans examined the clothes. A sweatshirt and a pair of washed out trousers. He didn’t know tiny Asgore dressed like him. Those things looked far too recent to be his.

“um… are these yours?”

Asgore gave him  sheepish smile. “Well. When I saw my old clothes, I realized that they were a little too… ehm… “old fashioned” for you. So I brought you these. Toriel has found them in Waterfall. They come from the Surface. She has cleaned them though, so they’re safe now. I would never give you sewer clothes.”

Sans chuckled. “Sewer clothes”. He could imagine himself starting a brand with that name.

_the trash you didn’t know you needed._

Sans retired behind a column to put on the dry clothes and sighed in relief. That was so much better. He turned the wet ones into a ball and put them into a bag Asgore had brought.

Then, finally, they sat to drink some tea.

The king poured the amber liquid in the cups and opened a plate, under which was resting a magnificent golden cake, covered in fluffy frosting. Sans smiled. Toriel was spoiling them. He could swear that his sport shorts had become unnervingly tight around the waste, since he had started working at the Royal Palace.

A few moments later they were both eating the cake. It was very sweet and creamy, with a slightly sour aftertaste that balanced the sweetness.

“yanno, asgore… i kinda liked basket when i was a babybones, but no one ever picked me to play in their team, ‘cause ‘m a shorty. now, though… you hit me with a revelation: at this rate, ‘m gonna play as the ball” chuckled Sans. “but, seriously… i should start usin’ that trend-mill paps got me.”

Asgore laughed as well, his deep voice echoing in the throne room. “Since I married Toriel, my life has been a never-ending series of pies. And now even Chara and Asriel have started a business.”

“the kids did this stuff?”

“Yes. They called it _Happy-Tummy_ Cake, if I’m not mistaken.”

Sans, who had tensed up in hearing Chara’s name, relaxed and shook his head. Kids always came up with the best names.

“Anyways,” said Asgore, bringing the conversation back on track. His melancholy got through his serene expression, and his eyes stared at something in the distance. “I know I said I wanted to talk to you about a judgement, but... I was not being entirely honest.”

Sans’s bony eyebrows narrowed and he stayed in silence, waiting for Asgore to explain himself.

The king sighed and put the teacup back on the table, poking at the remnants of the cake with a silver fork. “I know I shouldn’t talk about this with you, after everything that has happened, but... I don’t have anyone else to talk with.”

“ya can tell me anythin’ ya want, asgore. i won’t, eh… i was gonna say that i won’t _judge_ you about it, but that sounds a little weird, now.”

Asgore chuckled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

“I know you won’t judge me, Sans. It’s just… that I am very worried about Chara and Asriel. More than the usual, anyway.”

Sans’s soul sank somewhere beneath his slippers.

“what’s happened?”

“Nothing. And that’s the problem. Toriel and I have done our best to keep an eye on Chara without making it too much of a burden, but I think that she’s only become more secretive as a consequence.”

Sans lowered his gaze on the table, looking at his bony fingers. They were wrapped together and covered in sweat.

“i shouldn’t have made such a big deal out of what happened. i should’ve told you later, after calmin’ down. ‘m sor-“

“You telling us was the best thing you could have done, my friend” said Asgore, cutting him off. “Why do you always feel guilty about everything?”

Sans didn’t know how to answer that question.

**Probably because you always end up making things worse. Is it a curse, or what?**

_i don’t believe in curses. just in incompetence. ‘n i have a skeleton of that._

“That’s not a good way of thinking, Sans.”

“i know. ‘m sorry.”

Asgore sighed. “You don’t have to be, little one.” He put a hand on Sans’s skull and patted it gently. There it was, _the revenge of the pats_. However, Asgore’s paws were soft and comforting, and Sans closed his eye sockets for a moment. It would have been nice to be able to accept his words as well. “And,” continued the king, “you don’t have to worry about what you have done. No one is blaming you, here. Not even Chara.”

Sans lifted his eyebrows. “really?”

“Of course. One of the only things she told us is that she was very sorry about what had happened in the Library. She promised to not try to get close to you with such intent ever again.”

Sans felt as if a weight he hadn’t been aware of had just been lifted from his shoulders.

“that’s… um… that’s really good. ‘m happy she isn’t angry with me. i was afraid that, by snitching on her, i had just broken some fragile equilibrium between you all, you know?”

Asgore cut another slice of pie and gave it to Sans to cheer him up.

“You didn’t break anything. I am afraid it was already broken. Unfortunately, raising a human child is proving more hard than we thought… but we won’t ever give up on her. If only she could talk more with us… Chara seemed to be more at ease with you. What have you done to gain her trust?”

Sans chocked on the cake he was chewing, and Asgore had to pat him between the shoulder blades, until the little skeleton was able to swallow.

“i… uh… i dunno. it’s really, um… a mystery, for me. maybe chara thinks i’m so harmless that she feels more at ease with me? not that you scare her, but-“

“Hmm, maybe this plays a part in the whole ordeal. But I think she’s convinced that you are kindred spirits, somehow. Maybe, in her opinion, you can understand her better than us. When she talked about you, she seemed to hold you in very high esteem.”

“in very high esteem. _me_.”

Sans was weirded out. He would’ve never thought that Chara had been so invested in their weird friendship… _tolerationship_ … or whatever. If that was the case, that kid was really good at pretending.

“Yes.” Asgore passed a hand through his beard, biting the inside of his cheeks. “This is why I wanted to talk to you seriously, in private. I know that it is a big thing to ask of you after what happened, and I understand if you don’t want to do it, but… could you please try to talk to Chara for me? To… you know… to _see_ what she’s thinking?”

Sans stiffened and his fingers squeaked on the ceramic. “you’re askin’ me to use my _seein’_ on her?”

Asgore shrunk as if Sans had stung him with a needle. “I… I don’t know. I don’t know what’s best anymore. The idea of prying in her personal thoughts is horrible, but… how can we help her, if she is so stubborn?”

Sans had never thought a king could look that miserable. He didn’t really know what to do with the kid.

“Asriel knows something. Toriel and I always see him chattering with Chara, but they stop when we get closer and pretend to do something else. It’s gotten to the point that it’s ridiculous. I’m so worried. I feel like something bad is going to happen, if we don’t do something. And, maybe, with your _sight_ … we could prevent it.”

Even though Sans understood where Asgore was coming from, he shook his head.

“’m sorry, your majesty, but i can’t. as long as it’s talkin’ with her, it’s fine... but looking into her most personal feelings? no. i don’t want to do it. it’s not pleasant when i look into someone, neither for me, nor for’em. besides, it would be completely useless. chara would just feel stabbed in the back, and she’s already untrustin’ enough. maybe we should just let her do the first move. she probably just needs more time.”

The king looked at him for a long instant, then he nodded. “I got carried away by my worries. I’m sorry for having asked you about such a thing. Please, forgive me, Sans.”

“no apologies needed. everythin’s fine.” The little skeleton put a hand on the king’s arm, feeling the soft fur caressing the edges of his fingers. “i’ll see what i can do about this, okay? i’ll talk with her and try to figure her out without my powers. just a friendly talk.”

Asgore nodded again. “Okay. I trust you with this, Sans. Just tell me, even if there’s only one little thing bothering you in Chara. I have to know.”

Sans nodded and sighed, looking at his slice of cake. Now it looked like a feeble attempt at bribing him… if only Asgore had known how much of a softie Sans truly was, he wouldn’t have needed that. The little skeleton just couldn’t say no to a pair of sad eyes.

The doctor had told him something along the lines of “your compassion will kill you, one day”. Sans was starting to realize that, maybe, he hadn’t been wrong.

 

After his chat with Asgore, Sans signed a few papers in his study – it was more like a broom closet with dusty windows, but he didn’t really mind – and he went on his way, walking down the hallways.

The little skeleton explored Chara’s usual stomping grounds: the Royal Library, the corridor that connected her room to Asriel’s… but he didn’t find her.

All that walking around made Sans sweat, hot drops pouring down his skull and spine. He had to stop for a moment to catch his breath, a hand pressed on his chest. His soul was twitching uncomfortably, and an invisible weight had settled in his stomach.

Sans didn’t like the idea of talking to Chara after the whole forced soul absorption ordeal, but the little organ in his chest was exaggerating, now.

“c’mon, she’s just a kid” Sans said to himself, getting up. His knees felt unsteady. “If she tries somethin’, i’ll shortcut somewhere else right away, before she has the time to take her soul out.”

The little skeleton proceeded his slow walk through the labyrinthic structure of the Palace, and, suddenly, he heard a giggling coming from the gardens. He got closer to the noise, and he smiled, when he saw two kids running after each other.

Sans disappeared and reappeared near a flowerbed of buttercups.

“hey, kids.”

“What’s wrong, Chara? Have you seen the _boogiehuman_?” cried Asriel, laughing at his sister’s startled expression. “You’re not going to get me if you just stand there!”

He was so busy mocking her that the little goat monster didn’t notice Sans and crushed into him. They rolled in the buttercups and stopped when Sans’s back hit a tree trunk. A few peaches fell from the tree, hitting them like mushy bullets.

Sans rubbed his back with a groan and popped his back.

“ow… i know you really like this kinda games, asriel, but… i’m too lazy for this.” Sans stretched to realign his vertebras and then he slumped in the carpet of flowers. “pap’s already worked me down to the bone when we were kids. he was always so damn active… hah…”

“I’m so sorry!” said Asriel, who was perfectly fine, besides a scratched knee and some stains of grass on his clothes. “I hadn’t seen you, Mr.Judge!”

Sans grimaced at the name. “call me sans, bucko. no need for any title.”

“O-okay.”

“but, yanno… if ya’d like to help me back to my feet, we’d be even.”

Asriel’s nose reddened and he extended a paw to Sans. The little skeleton accepted it gladly and stood up. His bones were aching around the joints, but he was fine.

_new thing to note in my diary: don’t appear suddenly when kids’re playing._

“What are you doing here?” asked Chara, with a hesitant voice.

She had witnessed the scene between Sans and Asriel without doing anything, too surprised by Sans’s presence to act. The guy had been avoiding her for a long time now. What did he want?

Sans put a smile on his face, hoping that it wasn’t going to betray the part of his soul that still feared Chara, and limped towards a bench. He struggled to climb it and then melted on it, a hand on his stomach. Sans was feeling nauseous, and he was positive it wasn’t only Chara’s presence to make him feel that way. Asgore’s portions were far too generous for a small monster as he was.

“sit down here with me for a minute, would ya?” said Sans, patting the bench with a hand.

Chara looked at him for a long time, then she sighed and obeyed. Asriel, on the other hand, stood on the side, tormenting his paws.

“Well, if you have to talk… maybe it’s better if I go play over there. Sorry again for making you fall.”

“no, it’s fine. you can stay. i wanted to talk to you as well.”

Asriel’s eyebrows drew a perfect arc on his forehead, almost reaching his little horns. “You wanted to talk to _me_?”

Sans nodded and made some space for him as well. The little goat monster smiled and reached him with a couple of jumps. Usually people were more interested in Chara than him. Not that Asriel minded, but it was nice to be involved, sometimes.

“listen, um… chara” said Sans, playing with the zip of his new hoodie. “i just wanted to tell you that ‘m not mad, okay? and that ‘m sorry for telling your parents. maybe we should’ve talked it out first or somethin’. i was just worried about you, and-“

“I know” said Chara, avoiding his stare. “But you don’t have to be sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’ve tried to make you go along with my plan… and it was stupid and mean acting without your consent.”

Sans swallowed. He wasn’t sure he liked that answer – if he had consented, then she would’ve been completely fine with dying? -, but it was a start.

“it’s okay. no hard feelings on my part, kid. i get why you did it. you were just tryin’ to do the right thing… we’ve already talked about this, ‘n ya know what my thoughts are, so i won’t bother you with those again. just… take care of yourself… okay? ‘cause we care a lot ‘bout you.”

Sans hesitated for a moment, and then gave Chara a light caress on her shoulder. The kid didn’t flinch nor try to push him away, and the little skeleton took his hand off before she could start feeling uncomfortable. He just wanted to show her some affection, to give her proof that he had forgiven her.

Chara didn’t say anything to that, so Sans decided to proceed with the little speech he had prepared while he was looking for the kids.

“so… i’ve talked with your dad, today. he told me to come here this mornin’ and… he’s really worried ‘bout you two. how is it that you’re always plottin’ behind your parents’ shoulders? heh… you’re giving them a good headache, kids.”

Asriel got paler and he trembled under Sans’s soft grip on his shoulder. “Um… we’re… we’re not trying to make them worry! We’re just playing games together. They got it all wrong. You know, we’re only pretending to keep secrets! Yeah! That’s true!”

Sans turned to look at him in the eyes. He didn’t need not even a crumb of his _seeing_ to understand that Asriel was lying. He was far too transparent and honest to do so.

The little skeleton gently caressed his head. “it’s fine. you don’t need to tell me what you’re really telling each other. i just wanted to say that you can talk to your parents. i mean… if your papa came to _me_ for advice… heh! the situation is really bad. i don’t have a clue ‘bout kids and parents, so… i’ll leave you to figuring this out. i just wanted to be sure you know you’re not alone, that’s all.”

Even though he hadn’t looked towards Chara in a while, Sans’s words were meant mainly for her. She was the leader in their little kid squad, the one who made the decisions. Asriel was more of a sweet kid, who just wanted to make others happy and have fun. He was living his age, unlike Chara, and Sans didn’t blame him for it. But it wasn’t good that he followed her so blindly. Maybe telling him how much his parents were worried could push him to talk.

“Okay. Thanks, Mr… uhm. Sans” said Asriel, looking down.

Sans could see guilt in his black eyes and he felt his soul pinched for making Asriel sad, but… it was all in the name of good, right? Sans had only tried to push the kids in the right direction, that was all. It wasn’t like he was trying to manipulate them.

That was more the doctor’s style, and Sans was disgusted by the idea of resembling him in the slightest way.

“anyways… whatever you decide to do, ‘m glad we talked” whispered Sans. He struggled to get down the bench. His movements were clumsier than usual and he ended up on the ground.

“Mr.Judge!” exclaimed Asriel, kneeling at his side. He passed an arm around Sans’s shoulders and helped him to his feet a second time. “Are you alright?”

“y-yea. just a little stuffed” whispered Sans, his eye sockets wide with surprise and worry. The nausea had gotten stronger, and his insides were twisting painfully. Oh, God, why had he eaten so much? He could feel his invisible stomach tense around all that food. What had he been thinking? “thanks, kiddo.  i can make it on my own, really.”

Sans didn’t like showing his weakness to people, and it was upsetting being so awkward around Asriel and Chara. Especially around Chara.

“’m gonna go home, now.”

Sans needed his brother’s expertise for this. Papyrus had to have some digestives at home, right? With all the horrible things he cooked, he had to need a way to keep them in his stomach.

Sans didn’t like to be such a bother for Papyrus, always having something wrong or not feeling well, but he could take his brother’s help, unlike the kids’. Well… he could take it most of the times.

 “You’re really pale” said Chara, while Sans was focusing on his magic to take a shortcut.

“uh?” Sans’s concentration fell, and he blinked, not entirely sure of what he had just heard.

Chara jumped down the bench and crossed her arms on her chest. “Are you sure you’re feeling well?”

Sans snorted. “o’ course. ‘m just stuffed. your parents are both trying to fatten me up… hehe… as if i didn’t already do that on my own. ‘nyways… see ya soon.”

The little skeleton waved a hand and then tapped in his magic reserves.

He felt a jolt of fear, when he realized that something was wrong. Deeply wrong.

Instead of enveloping his body to bring him home, his magic rebelled under Sans’s grip, making the scar in his soul almost burst under the pressure.

The next thing Sans knew was that he was puking a worrying amount of liquid magic on the ground, his bones shaken by violent shivers. The effort drained his strength, and Sans fell on one side, holding his arms around his stomach. The nausea had become so strong that the ground was waving under his body. His magic was still dripping from his lipless mouth, and it had started leaking from his left eye as well.

It took Sans a few minutes to understand that Chara was crouched in front of him, shaking his shoulder.

“… ans! Sa…! … you… hear…?”

Sans coughed and tried to get up, but his body wasn’t responding. He weakly held Chara’s hand. He was so scared. He had no clue on what was going on. Nothing like this had ever happened to him.

Sure, he was weak, but- he had tamed his magic. _This_ wasn’t the Blaster’s fault. Sans couldn’t control his body anymore, and that freaked him out. He feared the loss of control more than anything, especially after getting such a strong magic, and he couldn’t do anything about it. His magic was just spilling everywhere, like blood from a deep wound.

“h-help…” he whispered, between a cough and the other. “help… p… please…”

Chara looked at him for a moment, breathing rapidly. It wasn’t the first time she had seen someone suffering like that, but, being it friend, she almost gave in to fear. However, if Chara had done so, she wouldn’t have been able to help Sans, therefore she tried to clear her mind by shaking her head.

She grabbed Asriel’s arm and shook him to snap her brother out of the horror.

“What… what do we do?!” he cried, regaining his voice. He couldn’t take his eyes away from Sans, whose body was twitching in a disturbing way. “What’s wrong with him? I don’t know how to heal this!”

“Az… Az, listen to me…”

“He’s… he’s dying!”

“Asriel!” Chara forced him to look away and tightened her grip around his arm. “Az… go call mom. She’ll know what to do.”

Asriel blinked rapidly, taking in the information, and he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah… I’ll go call mom. You… you keep an eye on him, okay? Make sure he doesn’t… you know…”

“Yes, I’ll think about him. Go, now!”

Asriel almost jumped and ran towards his mother’s chambers.

Chara bit her lip and looked at Sans. She pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and cleaned his skull from leaked magic and sweat. His eye lights were almost gone, and his breathing had dangerously slowed down. It was like he was on the verge of dissolving in her hands.

“Sans. Sans, can you hear me?”

He didn’t answer, but his breath got a little deeper, even though it was irregular and twitchy.

“Sans, it’s important that you tell me what happened.”

Again, he stayed silent. The only noise coming from him was the soft rattling of his bones.

“Sans! Please, I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong!”

Chara’s voice cracked and her sight blurred with tears. She had so little friends; she could count them on a single hand. And, even though her friendship with Sans had been unusual and poisoned by a lack of trust on both parts, she didn’t want him to die. Sans was a good person, and it wasn’t important if they had very different ideas about what was right and what was wrong. Chara still cared about him.

The kid put trembling hand on his skull, while holding his limp fingers. They were cold, but his forehead was burning hot. “Please…you have to tell me… I don’t know what to do…”

Sans’s eyelids fluttered, and he coughed. “i… don’t know wh… what’s happenin’… i’ve only eaten… a little too much…”

Chara swallowed and encouraged him by holding his hand tighter. “What? What did you eat?”

For a moment she feared that Sans had passed out, but, in a voice so weak that she had to get her ear close to his mouth to hear it, he said:

“your cake…”

 

Sans slowly opened his eyelids. He stared at the light blue ceiling for a few seconds, before realizing that it wasn’t the one of his room - no starry stickers that glowed in the dark or wild socks floating around. A lantern that fed on magical energy was hovering above his body.

Sans blinked slowly and lowered his gaze. He was lying in a vaguely familiar bed. He had already been there, and he realized it when he noticed a series of thin tubes connected to his arms, pouring healing magic into his body. A few tubes had been connected to his soul as well, and he could see the profile of the organ through the white gown they had put on him.

Machines blipped and breathed softly around him, like sleepy animals guarding him. However, they weren’t the only ones watching over his sleep: even through the dim light of the lantern, Sans could recognize the familiar shape of his brother. Papyrus was sitting on a chair, his torso leaning on Sans’s bed. One of his hands was cradling Sans’s, warming it with its magic.

Sans smiled weakly and he moved his thumb to caress Papyrus’s hand. He hadn’t meant to wake him up, but Papyrus opened his eye sockets and looked at him in confusion.

“heya… you should sleep in a bed, bro. you’re gonna get scoliosis like this.”

Papyrus stayed quiet, and Sans worried.

“bro? what’s-“

Papyrus didn’t leave him the time to finish his question, and hugged him tightly, hiding his face in Sans’s chest. He started sobbing, and Sans’s eye sockets filled with tears.

“oh, c’mon… don’t cry… yanno it makes me cry too.”

It took some time for Papyrus to calm down, while Sans was rubbing his back to soothe him. Sans hadn’t seen him this shaken since when they had been kids and Sans, with his fragile health, had gotten ill for a few days. That time, it hadn’t been certain if Sans was going to survive. And, if Papyrus was so relieved to have him back, something really bad had happened.

Sans wiped his tears on the hospital gown and tried to keep himself from trembling too much.

Papyrus slackened his hold and smiled to Sans, just looking at him, as if he could never have enough of his chubby face.

“Oh, Sans… I thought… I thought…” said Papyrus. His voice was hoarse and strained. He hid his face behind his fingers. “When you got here, the doctors didn’t know what to do to help you. They gave you healing magic, but it wasn’t enough. Something was hurting you from the inside.”

Sans swallowed and instinctively massaged his stomach. It wasn’t hurting anymore, and the nausea had gone away, but it was still sensitive. The last thing he remembered was that he was puking magic everywhere. The rest was a blur.

“what was it?”

Papyrus took a deep breath. “The cake you and Asgore ate was poisoned, brother.”

Sans’s eye sockets widened. “what?”

“King Fluffybuns is being cured at home, right now… but he wasn’t in such a terrifying state as you were. He is a far bigger monster than you, and a very strong and old one as well, so… the slice of cake he ate has only made him dizzy and weak for a few days. As for you, brother… they told me you’ve eaten two slices of that cursed cake, and with you being small and… with your low health, the poison has affected you more severely. If Chara and Asriel hadn’t been there with you and so quick to act, you wouldn’t... have made it.”

Sans shivered.

“oh. this… this is…”

He paused and cleared his throat to take out the croaky note in it.

“‘m happy the kids were there, then. i remember that i was sweaty and a little shaky before I found them, but I would’ve never thought about poisoning. i just thought i had an indigestion. then, i tried to use my powers to get home, but… somethin’ just went wrong.” Sans pinched his nose with index and thumb, and he sighed. “talk about my luck.”

A heavy silence fell between them. There wasn’t that much to say. They were both shaken and tired, Sans from what he had been through, and Papyrus for not sleeping in the last few days, in order to watch over his brother.

“i had no idea the cake was poisoned, of course… do you know how that’s possible? i remember asgore said that the kids had made it, but… they couldn’t possibly have done that on purpose, right?”

That idea made Papyrus feel uneasy as Sans, but, instead of supporting it, he shook his head.

“I don’t think so, brother. They looked so heartbroken, when they came here to visit.”

“the… the kids came here?”

“Yes. You were still unconscious, so you don’t remember. But they were the ones who brought you that.”

Papyrus pointed at a note on the nightstand near the bed, crowded with bottles and medicines. Sans opened it, and found both Chara and Asriel’s writing on it, together with the drawing of a sick skeleton with a thermometer sticking out of his mouth.

“We’re so sorry. We hadn’t any idea that the ingredients we used were going to make you ill! We just wanted to make something nice for you. We didn’t know buttercups were poisonous. There isn’t any butter here in the Underground, so we thought we could use the buttercups in its place, to make a human recipe.”

Sans felt his soul drop. Poor kids. They were probably more traumatized from this than he was. If Asgore had fallen victim to the cake as well, it couldn’t have possibly been some kind of sick plan to… well, to get rid of Sans.

He shook his head, weirded out by his own thoughts.

_of course they didn’t do it on purpose! what the hell ‘m i thinkin’? i mean, chara was angry with me for a while, i guess, but… to want to hurt me? no. ‘course not._

Sans had to keep his paranoia in check. Since the doctor had almost succeeded in destroying him, Sans had never trusted anyone in the same way, except for Papyrus. And, even if he offered his friendship to someone, when things looked ambiguous, he always thought about the worst case scenario. Sometimes it felt as if the whole world was out to get him, so… he had to stay calm and be rational about this.

Even if Chara was smart, she could be expected to make some silly mistakes, like thinking that buttercups could be edible. She was still new to the Underground. Two years or so weren’t nearly enough to unravel all its secrets.

She was just a kid. Not some kind of sick human acting for revenge’s sake.

Sans shivered and went back to the postcard.

“ _We hope you’ll get well soon, Sans. Mom and dad were both very angry and worried, and we won’t ever add ingredients we don’t know to something we cook again. Please forgive us,_

 _Asriel & Chara_”

Sans’s tension had eased a little while finishing to read the note. The kids sounded more scared than everything, and extremely worried that Sans could think badly of them.

The little skeleton sighed and he smiled while looking at the drawing. It resembled him really well. They got even the sleepy expression right.

“they sound genuine” whispered Sans, putting the postcard under his pillow. “they even seemed worried about me.”

“OF COURSE THEY WERE, BROTHER” said Papyrus, his voice regaining its usual loudness. “EVERYONE WAS: ASGORE, ASGORE’S CLONE, ASGORE’S TINY CLONE, THE HUMAN CHILD… AND EVEN GRILLBY PASSED BY, ASKING ABOUT YOU – I GUESS HE WAS WORRIED YOU WOULDN’T PAY YOUR TAB ANYMORE, BUT I TOLD HIM YOU WERE GOING TO BE PERFECTLY FINE AND PAY SOON, OF COURSE.” Papyrus reflected for a moment and got more somber. “I, THOUGH, WERE THE WORRIEDEST OF ALL, BROTHER. You gave me a big scare.”

“aw, paps… ‘m so sorry. ‘t was a really bad joke on my part. cm’here.”

Sans offered him a hug and Papyrus enveloped his little body with his bony arms, while the short skeleton was caressing his head.

“yanno ‘m not goin’ to leave you alone, right?”

“Right.”

“besides… i still haven’t told ya every pun there’s in the book, so i ain’t dustin’ before that.”

“Mhh-mhh.”

“oh, pap. c’mon, cheer up. ‘m here, see? ‘m okay. ‘m here with you, and nothing’s bad’s happened to me, in the end. just a… uhm… minor setback, as you’d say.”

Papyrus let him go and cupped one of Sans’s hands between his. “This wasn’t a minor setback. You almost died, Sans. What… wh-what would I do if you weren’t there anymore?”

That question pierced Sans’s soul like a shard of ice.

He knew that, if his brother had died before him, Sans was going to follow him soon after, because his soul would’ve cracked for good. Even thinking about such a scenario was enough to make him feel a deep existential anguish.

But hearing Papyrus say the same thing about Sans? It somehow felt… _wrong_.

There wasn’t a big age difference between them, but, since they hadn’t any parents, Sans had acted like one for Papyrus in many occasions. He had never considered the fact that his brother behaved in the same way for him, even though it was evident, every single day. Papyrus put up with his laziness and with all the garbage Sans left around the house; with his lack of cleaning or eating healthy foods; and, most of all, with Sans’s delirious statements about the past and all the problems his fragile health gave him.

But Papyrus shouldn’t have leaned on Sans so much. He didn’t have to be like him.

If Sans died – and the option was always just behind an accidental hit -, he didn’t want Papyrus to give in to desperation. He wanted his brother to continue on living and being happy and following his dreams.

Sans didn’t have any of those anymore. He had dreamt of becoming a scientist and of doing good for people that way, but he had given up on it. He was kind of a failure, in a lot of ways. The only thing he was good at was throwing in the towel. But Papyrus didn’t have to let Sans drag him down with him.

Papyrus made everyone’s life so much better just by being around them! At least he did that with Sans’s. Everyone needed more of that, not of a smelly trashbag moping around and telling unfunny jokes in the hope of squeezing a smile out of the people that tolerated him. Papyrus didn’t really need him. And it was fine like that. That’s how it should’ve been, not the other way around. Being dependent on someone that could die at any moment wasn’t a good thing.

However, instead of telling those things to Papyrus, Sans took a deep breath in and tried to smile to him. To reassure him.

“let’s not… let’s not think about that, okay?” said Sans, hugging his brother tighter. “’m not plannin’ on leavin’ anytime soon. ‘m not getting’ into trouble on purpose, yanno… it’s troubles that like me a bit too much, apparently. we couldn’t know this one was comin’. but hey, look, ‘m still here. with you. and nothin’ can stop us now, amiright?”

Papyrus smiled a little, and Sans felt much better as a consequence, smiling back.

“and please, stop crying like that!” Sans said, cleaning Papyrus’s cheekbones with his thumbs.” ‘m goin’ to finish all my tears if you keep this goin’! i hafta keep some of those for when i wanna try to convince you to make my laundry for me… if this is some plan to sabotage my act, i warn ya, i can _see right through ya_. yanno? ‘cause… you’re a skeleton?”

Papyrus chuckled and gave Sans a soft push. “Oh, please, brother! Stop those… they’re not funny, and you know that.”

“you’re laughin’, though.”

“I know… and I hate it.”


	6. Only one shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans recovers from the Happy-Tummy cake, and Dr.Frake makes him notice that he should take better care of his bony bottom. He later receives an unexpected visit from Very Important Monsters - and a human.

The following morning Sans felt a little disoriented, when he realized he wasn’t in his room. Then he remembered what had happened, and he let out a deep sigh.

He looked at the empty chair where Papyrus had slept last night, before Sans had called Undyne to get his brother home. The fish lady had been the only one strong enough to drag the young skeleton away from Sans’s bed.

Undyne had made Papyrus sleep on her couch and had taken pictures of him. She had sent them to Sans, who had chuckled at his brother drooling on a pillow, but had also felt a little twinge of guilt, since it was because of him that Papyrus had deprived himself of sleep.

It was four in the afternoon now, and the morning had been extremely uneventful. Sans usually liked quietness and solitude, but the hospital made him nervous. His nightmares had been particularly difficult to bear the previous night, to the point Sans had remembered something: he had dreamt about the shadow with purple eyes tying him down to the bed he was now sleeping on and force-feeding him poisoned food, saying that it was for his own good.

Sans had woken up covered in sweat, gripping his chest with a shaky hand, and it had taken him a whole half an hour to calm down. He stayed awake for the rest of the night and fell asleep in the morning, when the steps and voices of people visiting their sick familiars had resumed. That background noise helped Sans relax, since it broke the crushing silence in the building and made it less ominous… less similar to the lab.

He had fallen asleep again, and now there he was, more rested, but still alone.

Sans already missed the comforting presence of his brother, but he wasn’t going to call him anytime soon. Papyrus had to rest as well, and Sans could take this on his own.

The little skeleton sighed and turned on his side. The evening before a nurse had visited him and had taken off almost all the tubes that had been connected to him, except for the one on his soul and the one on his left arm. A few plastic bags filled with healing magic and white monster magic were hanging above his head, looming over him.

Sans hated needles and being injected with stuff, especially medicine of any kind. Even though he knew this one was good for him and it was healing the damage done by the poison, he feared a doctor could come by and inject him with sedatives to keep him weak and vulnerable, so that they could do whatever they wanted with his mind and body.

Sans shivered at the thought.

_he’s… he’s dead. it was my fault if he fell. i killed him. he’s not goin’ to come back. he can’t hurt me anymore._

But, no matter how many times Sans told that to himself, his subconscious just couldn’t accept it. He hadn’t seen the doctor’s body. And that white light… was it true that it had cancelled him? Could Sans be a hundred percent sure the doctor had been eradicated from reality?

No, he couldn’t. The liquid magic boiling at the bottom of the Core, still raw and untamed, unsuited for being distributed into monster houses before being refined, was too unstable to be sure it had done its job. What if the doctor was still alive, somewhere? What if-

Sans shook his head. No. He had to stop with those thoughts. He didn’t want to know what had happened to the doctor. If he was dead… well, it was for the better. Sans had to stop to feel guilty and… miss his company. The doctor hadn’t really been his friend. He had been a manipulative and cruel bastard who had never listened to people trying to put some sense in his head… to people begging him to stop.

Sans sighed. There he was again.

**Why can’t you stop thinking about him? It would be much easier, if you could let go of the doctor. Forget what little you remember of him. It’s all bad, anyway.**

_‘s just the hospital. ‘m nervous ‘cause this place reminds me of him, that’s all. ‘s not like i want to think ‘bout him._

Sans stopped grasping his aching chest, when he noticed that a wolf monster was now standing at the entrance, writing down on a notepad.

She was the same doctor that had cured him after his mental breakdown, months ago. How was her name? Dr.Frake?

_‘course they had to send her, ‘n not another doctor. of course. ‘cause ‘m such a lucky bone._

“Hello again, Sans” she said, scrutinizing him with her sharp, yellow eyes. “I see you were satisfied with my hospital’s services last time, since you keep coming back here.”

Sans laughed nervously. “heh… hehe… you can say that, doc. uhm… i wasn’t plannin’ on it this time, though.”

Dr.Frake lifted an eyebrow. “Oh. So you were planning it the first time?”

Sans felt a little confused, then he shook his head. His mind was working slowly, with all the green magic being pumped into his soul and body. It was difficult to keep his thoughts from wandering, and puns were outside his reach, at the moment.

The wolf monster got closer to him and observed the machines that, in the worst days, had kept Sans alive. She pressed a button and read through a printed paper that gave her a report on Sans’s health.

“Everything is stable, right now” she said, giving him a rewarding pat on the head, as if he had done good. “You’ve been really lucky, Sans.”

“uh. yea. i’ve eaten a poisoned cake… so lucky.”

Dr.Frake snorted. “You’re a magnet for the worst situations, Sans.”

The little skeleton monster sighed. “i know. i wish it wasn’t like that. ‘s not like i do it on purpose.”

“Yeah, I believe you: from what your brother has told me, you’re far too lazy to go looking for trouble. This was just a really unfortunate event…” Dr.Frake cleared her throat and put one of her paws on Sans’s chest. “Can I take your soul out for a moment? I have to examine it, to make sure everything’s alright.”

Sans didn’t like the idea to show it to her, but she was a nice doctor. She wasn’t like Gas… Gast… dang it, he was almost there with the name.

The little skeleton let his soul come out of his ribcage, and looked at Dr.Frake, as she manipulated the organ with care. She held it in a paw, the soul hovering quietly above her palm, as she scribbled on her notepad.

Sans had been very tense at the beginning of that practice, but then he had relaxed in her hold, until he had started to snore. He woke up from his slumber only when the doctor had put his soul back into his chest.

“Sans, what I told you last time was just an advice… however, your health his important and you should give it the best care” she said, looking at him right in the eye sockets.

Sans was walking on a thin line. He tried to put his thoughts together in a coherent way. “what do ya mean?” he managed to mutter. “i, uh, take care of myself.”

“I know that you never went to a soul doctor for a check-up” she interrupted him, a little annoyed.

Sans froze. That was bad. He thought he had done a good job at hiding. How did she-

“I’m friends with that doctor, remember?” she said, as if she had read his mind. “One day I asked him how it was going with his new patient, and he said that he had never heard of you.”

Sans lowered his gaze. Usually he’d have an emergency pun up his sleeve to distract her from the fact he had messed up, but his mind was empty. He was feeling guilty and deeply ashamed. It was the first time that someone caught one of his biggest lies, and it left him unable to defend himself.

“i… i… um…” he stuttered, tormenting his bony hands. Sans felt a sick sensation creeping on him.

Dr.Frake waited patiently for him to continue, but the little skeleton kept staring at his hands in silence, his eye lights dim.

She sighed. “Sans, I’m not trying to make you feel bad. It’s just that you shouldn’t face this on your own: that scar on your soul would be dangerous and difficult to handle even if you were a monster as big and powerful as Asgore. There’s nothing shameful in accepting the help of others. Everyone needs it sooner or later.”

Sans snorted. Oh, what a nice observation she had just made. “It’s easy to accept the help of others!”… of course… easy… if you didn’t need it every goddamn day. It was such a humiliating and clingy thing to do, to always go to Papyrus and tell him that there was something wrong with him. And that was with Sans’s brother. With a stranger, it was just an unthinkable thing to do, even more so if they were an unknown doctor, who could have had some weird ideas in their head.

Sans swallowed and covered his face with a hand. He was being childish, he knew it, but he couldn’t help it. The repulsion towards doctors was too strong.

“i… i tried to call him” muttered Sans. He didn’t even know why he was telling this to Dr.Frake. He somehow felt the need to justify himself… maybe to not appear as a complete mess - as if there could be a good enough reason for not going to a doctor when his soul was such a wreck. “but every time i tried to talk to him, i… i just couldn’t. i felt like i was goin’ to have a panic attack, and i hung up the phone.”

They stayed in silence for a while, each one of them absorbed by their own thoughts. Then Dr.Frake broke the unnerving atmosphere by putting a paw on Sans’s arm.

“It’s not my specialization, and this is extremely unorthodox, but… if that could make you feel more at ease, would you like me to be the one who checked up on your soul, from time to time?”

Sans looked at her with surprise, then he reflected on her proposal. He wasn’t stupid, he knew that his soul needed some fixing.

However, it seemed too good to be true.

A doctor offering their help like that?

_where’s the catch?_

“i ‘preciate the offer, but- i just don’t feel like it” Sans whispered, trying to smile. His face felt stiff, and he managed only to get a grimace through. “besides, ‘m fine now. ‘m here for poisoning, not for soul trauma. ‘m fine. see?”

Sans gave a gentle pat on his chest to show that there was no problem.

Dr.Frake listened to him with a weird smile on her face, as if Sans had been really amusing.

The little skeleton frowned. Normally he would’ve been happy to make people laugh, but that was unsettling.

“what? what’s wrong?” he mumbled.

Dr.Frake chuckled. “Oh, nothing. It’s just really interesting to hear you tell me what’s the best way to do my work.”

An uncomfortable oppression closed around Sans’s cervical vertebrae.

“’m sorry, doc… ‘m not sayin’ that you can’t-“

“Because,” she continued, as if Sans hadn’t said anything, “apparently, you can recognize soul calcifications better than me. After all, I’ve been doing this only for a few hundred years, so, what the hell do I know?”

Sans was mortified. He didn’t… she was a good doctor, the problem was his stupid phobia.

Dr.Frake made a little gesture towards Sans’s chest, and her magic wrapped around his soul, taking it out a second time. For a moment Sans thought that she was going to hurt it, but the doctor was too focused on the scar to notice his frightened expression.

“Do you see this?” she said, pointing at the edges of the greyed-out tissue. “Maybe you haven’t noticed it, but your soul has resumed growing scar tissue. We smoothed it out when you came here last time, but it’s already back there… and it’s only been a few months.”

Sans swallowed. “scar tissue?”

“Yeah. See? I’m not going to touch your soul without your permission, but, if you allow me, I’ll show you what’s the problem.”

Sans avoided her stare. He was still afraid, but, even though Dr.Frake seemed worried for his lack of trust, she wasn’t hostile. She wasn’t going to hurt Sans. Right?

She wasn’t like _Him_.

“o… okay. do it.”

Sans saw her paw get closer to his soul. At the last moment, he covered his eye sockets with his fingers, not being able to watch.

Sans was expecting pain and distress, but he relaxed when a warm sensation entered his soul. It was similar to green magic, but the intent was different. That magic was made for making him feel safe, and it instantly melted every last bit of tension in his body and mind.

Dr.Frake gave Sans a gentle pat on a cheekbone to make sure he stayed awake.

“hnn… what?”

“Sans, you have to be aware for this. Try to focus, it’s important.”

The little skeleton nodded and tried to straighten his back.

“Look. If I touch your soul here, you should feel whatever emotion I’m trying to convey you right now. Right?”

Dr.Frake put her index on a part of the soul that was spotless white. Sans nodded. He felt another wave of warmth and safety; a feeling not unlike the one he got when he was with his brother.

“However,” said the doctor, “if I touch your soul there,” and she placed a finger over the grey area of the organ, “you should notice quite a difference.”

Sans blinked. Yeah, it was different. It felt… dimmer, as if that part of his soul couldn’t feel that much anymore.

“i feel… _less_?” he whispered, with a tinge of worry.

Dr.Frake nodded, satisfied with his response. “Yes. Remember what I told you about scarred souls? I don’t want to scare you, but, if you keep neglecting yourself like you’ve been doing, it will get worse. The scar tissue should be taken care of by a soul doctor, but, if it’s so hard for you to talk with one, I can be the one to smooth the surface of your soul. However, it has to be done regularly, _every month_.” She sighed and put a hand on Sans’s shoulder. “I realize that something really, really bad has happened to you for your soul to crack, but you can’t keep ignoring your problems. You need to be cured regularly, until you’ll get better. Then, you’ll be able to take care of yourself on your own.”

Sans swallowed. “what if… what if i let it stay like this?”

“Well. Your soul will continue to grow scar tissue until it will envelope your whole soul. It’s a mechanism of self-defense, especially if you’ve been badly hurt; it’s like when a mollusk forms a pearl around a spikey object to protect itself. I mean… you wouldn’t hurt anymore, but you wouldn’t feel anything else, either.”

Not feeling anything. Sometimes, it would’ve been great, but… thinking about it, it seemed scarier than Sans’s present issues.

Would that mean not being able to love his brother anymore?

Sans felt his soul tighten at the idea. Papyrus was the only person in the whole Underground that he couldn’t live without. Was it even possible to grow numb towards him as well?

Sans shivered and Dr.Frake put his soul back in his chest.

“Listen, Sans. I can’t imagine which horrors have pushed you over your limit, cracking your soul, but, like I told you, you’re not alone. And, if there’s any way I can help, I’ll try - like everyone else around you. I’ve already talked about this with your brother, and he’s really worried. We have to do something.”

Sans felt his eye sockets sting. Why were people always saying sappy, stupid stuff?

Dr.Frake had already told Papyrus. Of course. She knew Sans wasn’t going to be a collaborative patient, and she had to involve his brother, didn’t she?

Sans lain his head on the pillow and inhaled deeply.

“okay” he muttered. “i’ll do it. just… promise you won’t…” He felt so stupid saying out loud, but he had to to have some kind of reassurance, if he was going to do this. “promise you won’t use me as some kind of specimen, okay?”

Dr.Frake scrunched up her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

Sans groaned. She had to make him say it out loud, huh?

“i don’t want to be your… um… _test subject_ , or anythin’ like that. if you’re gonna hurt me in any way, even a little, i’m out, and you’ll never see me again, not even if ‘m dyin’. is it clear enough, now?”

He hadn’t meant to be rude, but the urge to yell at her was really strong, at the moment. Why couldn’t she mind her own business?

 **Maybe because she’s a true doctor and you’re sick** , observed the annoying voice of his conscience.

_shut up. you don’t know. even He behaved nicely at the beginning._

**If you think treating his employees like cockroaches and acting smug all the time was “being nice”, you need to reconsider your priorities.**

_just shut up._

“I don’t know what made you think that I’d be interested in using you in such a way, Sans, but I had never had such intent. Besides, I’m not some kind of crazy scientist who experiments on people. I’m just here to help my patients. Some people do this job because they feel like it, not to put every particular medical case on their CV.” Dr.Frake’s expression softened. “You’re a very suspicious individual, Sans.”

“i have… i have my reasons” he muttered, looking away. He was feeling like an idiot, right now.

Sans hadn’t expected her to be kind, after telling her what he truly thought of the situation.

“I understand. If what happened to you has to do something with doctors, anyways, you can tell me. If a doctor has hurt you, I will report them and make sure they’ll never work again.”

Sans felt a little warmth in his soul, and he chuckled darkly.

“that’d be great. but… he’s long gone.”

 _maybe_.

Dr.Frake looked at him for a long instant, then nodded.

“Okay, then. Just know that, if anything bad happens with this person again, you can always tell me.”

“thank you” said Sans, and that time he really meant it. Even though she couldn’t do anything about what had happened, it was nice to know that she would’ve done it.

_maybe i’ve been misjudgin’, here._

It was so difficult to be rational, when the scar on his soul and his past were involved. Sans had the tendency to become hostile even when the situation didn’t require it at all… Even when people were just trying to help him.

Sans recollected his thoughts and shook the furry hand Dr.Frake had offered him.

“okay, then. i’ll come here every month, if you think this’s really necessary.”

“It is.”

Sans sighed. The little part of him that still hoped she could let him off the hook had just died miserably.

“for how long are we going to do this, anyway? this… um… smoothin’-your-scar stuff.”

Dr.Frake’s expression became more focused and professional, as she went through Sans’s data on the paper she had printed.

“It depends on how your soul reacts. I can’t really tell you with absolute certainty yet, but it’ll be a slow process, as I’ve already mentioned. However!” She glared at him, becoming stern, “If _someone_ doesn’t neglect their soul, it could require around five or six months, if we’re lucky. But it really depends on the patient, Sans. On their will to _collaborate_ , especially, and-“

“’s okay, ‘s okay!” Sans muttered. “i got it… no neglectin’ myself. my bro already nags me enough ‘bout that, thanks.”

“Well, there’s probably a reason why he does that. And, besides no neglecting, you’ll need to _always_ report your issues and attend your monthly visits. No skedaddling or weird excuses.”

Sans nodded with a defeated look on his face and Dr.Frake finally seemed happy with him.

“This is the right spirit, Sans! You’ll see. Everything will be so much better, like this.”

Sans tried to smile, but it turned into an annoyed grin. At least, if he collaborated, that was going to be over sooner… and, who knew… maybe, it could actually help him.

He had just to fight his irrational fear of doctors and hospitals.

As if that was going to be easy.

 

Sans spent the following days in the hospital, recovering. His strength slowly came back, making him able to take some walks in the open air. The hospital’s garden was a beautiful place, even though the presence of buttercups made Sans nauseous. Looking at them was enough to make the flavor of the cake come back to his mind, together with uncomfortable twinges in his stomach.

So, during his little travels, Sans avoided the buttercups as much as he could, and he always sat on a bench on the opposite side of the garden, near trees with pale white leaves. Sans often watched them, fascinated. For most of the trees, monster magic was enough to keep them alive, but some of them still missed the sun too much, and they ended up like that: weak and scrawny, their leaves of a dull white. It was surreal to see an albino tree, but it had its beauty. When its leaves fell due to a blow of wind, it looked as if they had been snowflakes, and that made Sans feel at home.

In front of the bench there was a small, natural lake. The water was hot, its high temperature kept by earth’s heat. Monsters who were healthy enough took baths in there, since the water came from a thermal source.

The heat always made Sans sleepy, and he dozed off on the bench, waking up wrapped in a cover. Sans never discovered who was his kind cover dealer, but he was really grateful to them.

That day it was the last he had to spend at the hospital, so Sans walked towards the tree by himself and sat on the bench, as usual. He wanted to enjoy the absolute quiet of the hospital’s garden for the last time, before going back home.

That place had grown on him. The garden was so peaceful. No one ever disturbed Sans there, and he felt weirdly safe… a sensation that he had never felt inside his hospital room. Here, outside, there were no suffocating walls, and he could breathe.

He was going to miss the suspended, almost foggy atmosphere of that place.

Sans yawned and opened the lunchbox a nurse had given him. It contained tasteless hospital food, but he was so hungry that he didn’t mind.

After all, he was going to sneak to Grillby’s as soon as he had gone back home the next day. He had to regain all the pounds he had lost to that sad, sad hospital food. It all seemed gray, if compared to Grillby’s glistening hamburgers and brightly colored salsas.

Sans munched on his food, enjoying the hot air that came from the lake. Some monsters were having a bath in a secluded area, a nurse standing near-by with a few towels under his arm, tapping his foot on the ground.

The soft chattering that came from the lake acted like a lullaby on Sans, and, before he knew it, the little skeleton fell asleep, with the fork still in his hand.

He woke up what felt like a few seconds later. The empty lunchbox had fallen from the bench, and he had managed to drool on his jacket’s hood.

Then, he realized that someone had tucked him into a cover. Sans looked around, trying to find the serial coverer, but his eye lights focused on three little shapes getting closer to his bench.

Sans shrunk his eyelids, until they got close enough for him to recognize them.

“Hello, Mr.Judge!” said Asriel, running towards him. He was holding Chara’s hand, and the human child’s face was so red that it made Sans chuckle, even though the last time he had seen it he had been spewing magic out of his mouth. “A nurse told us you were out here!”

“Asriel, don’t run!” ordered a stern voice behind the kids. “You’re going to fall, like that!”

Asriel rolled his eyes. Everyone always treated him as if he had been too precious to even run around. Why couldn’t they leave him to bust his knees in peace? The other kids did it.

Toriel reached them with her slow, considered pace, and she smiled at Sans, who was staring at her, speechless.

“Hello, sleepyskull” she said. “How is it that every time I see you, you’re sleeping in a weird place?”

Sans tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. “uh… um…”

“You’re so blue in the face, Mr.Judge!” said Asriel, pointing at him. “Are you feeling okay? Should we call a nurse?”

“Shut up,” hissed Chara.

“Wha… why?” Asriel said, deeply offended. “What did I say?!”

Chara gave him a nudge in the ribs without being noticed and forced him to sit at Sans’s side together with her.

Sans, in the meanwhile, found his voice, that had escaped somewhere in an extremely embarrassed part of his skull, and he smiled at Toriel.

“your m-majesty” he croaked. “wha… what’re ya doin’ here?”

Toriel lifted her eyebrows. “I’ve come to visit. What does it look like?”

“um.”

Sans didn’t know how to say it. It was really weird for the Queen to come visit a dumpy, insignificant skeleton at the hospital. People were going to wander what was so special about Sans. Or, more probably, why the Queen would bother enough to care about his health.

“you didn’t hafta” said Sans.

Toriel smiled. She seemed to be humored by Sans’s awkwardness.

“So, you don’t appreciate my visit?”

The little skeleton’s stare instantly came back to her, and he became even bluer.

“no, no! i ‘preciate and all of that, it’s just… um, aren’t you, well… worried? i mean- people’re gonna say that the queen’s visitin’ some kind of nobody-“

“Oh, so you’re concerned they’re going to talk behind my back!” Toriel chuckled. “That’s really sweet, but I’m an old lady. I can look after myself.”

“wha- no! i didn’t mean it like that! i-“

“So, you’d let them talk behind my back?”

“no, of course not-“

“See? Then, please, don’t do anything stupid to protect my name, thank you.”

Sans was feeling extremely confused. He didn’t even know what they were talking about anymore.

“yea, as you wish” he surrendered, scratching his skull. “i won’t, um, make a scene with anyone.”

“Perfect.” Toriel smiled to him, with a playful light in her eyes.

Sans realized that she had been joking with him, and he cackled. The Queen had always made him feel more uneasy than Asgore and, even though Sans knew she was a kind lady, he would’ve never suspected that she could have a sense of humor… and a really snarky one as well.

Sans got closer to Asriel in order to make some space for the Queen, who sat by his side.

They stayed in silence for a moment, then Toriel turned towards Sans and put a paw on his back. It was big enough to cover it entirely, and made him feel really small, but also protected.

“The doctors wouldn’t let us see you before, and we didn’t pry. But now we’re all here, finally, and… we just wanted to tell you how sorry we are for what happened” she said, looking at him in the eye sockets. “We understand if you can’t accept our apologies and don’t want to be at the palace anymore, but-“

“Yes, we’re really sorry, Mr.Ju- um… Sans!” intervened Asriel, grabbing him by the jacket to get his attention. “I and Chara didn’t know that buttercups could be so dangerous. We thought they were edible… right, Chara? Tell him!”

Chara, who had been silent for the whole time, was incredibly pale. She found it really hard to look at Sans in the face after what had happened.

The little skeleton could see that she was feeling immensely guilty, and the last doubts he had about her vanished instantly. Poor kid. Chara had to be really scared, when she had to watch him die without being able to do anything to help.

Even though, in the end, it had been thanks to her readiness that Sans had survived the poisoning. Chara had called an adult with healing abilities right away, and that had kept him alive until they had arrived at the hospital.

“No one had every told us they were poisonous” whispered Chara. “There are so many strange foods down here. I thought they could be used to replicate a human recipe. I was so stupid.”

Toriel, who had let the children talk, shook her head. “That wasn’t your fault, my child. You didn’t know. I should’ve warned you about the buttercups. I would’ve never thought that you could try to eat them, but… I should’ve been more careful.”

Instead of being consoled by Toriel taking the guilt, Chara became even more gloomy. She didn’t agree with the Queen, but there was no point in trying to say it to her. It would’ve just upset her.

Chara had almost ruined everything. Asgore had been poisoned as well, and, if he had been a weaker monster, he would’ve not been there anymore. And Sans… it was a matter of pure luck, if he was still breathing quietly at her side, looking at her with that sappy expression he got sometimes… the “I forgive you” expression.

Chara was starting to hate it. Why was he so kind? Why was her mother so kind? How could they not realize how badly she had messed up?

If Chara had been home, and something like this had happened, she would’ve been put in some kind of reformatory for crazy kids - something that she had dodged too many times in her life to count. Chara had always been arrogant and dismissive of punishments, especially the physical ones, but now that she really deserved to be despised for the damage she had caused, or at least to pay for it, everyone was so damn nice! Too nice. Chara knew that monsters weren’t like humans, or at least they weren’t supposed to be, but… how could they forgive _this_?

Chara was dangerous. She ruined everything she touched. How could they not see it?

A bony hand gently held her fingers. Chara had expected it to be cold, but it was warm… alive. A small part of her mind smiled at the weirdness. Skeletons weren’t supposed to have a temperature. They didn’t have any skin, nor meat, for the matter.

Chara had come to fear and then to despise the touch of others, on the Surface. When people had lifted their hands on her, most of the times it hadn’t been for a soft touch, so she had mastered how to avoid physical contact as much as she could.

So, Chara was surprised at how nice it felt to have someone hold her hand like that. It was as if Sans didn’t want to hurt her in the slightest and just to be there for a moment, to let her know that she wasn’t alone.

The soft hum of Sans’s magic always calmed Chara down. It was relaxing and quiet, just like him.

Chara didn’t know precisely why she felt so at ease in his company. Probably because he was so small and harmless, if compared to the other monsters, and was basically unable to loom over Chara; maybe because he had a kind, hazy feeling to him, if someone was disposed to look over the strong smell of ketchup and the nasty eating habits, that he was so proud of; or, more probably, because Chara had seen a part of him that not even Sans remembered. Not completely. But it was still there.

Sans had been disposed to die to let Chara escape, that day, when the doctor had tried to take her for himself. Sans had judged her, even though neither of them had known the true nature of his weird ability back then, and he had thought that she deserved to be saved.

That she didn’t have to suffer.

And, even though the situation had been far from normal and Sans had acted more on instinct than reason, it had meant something for Chara.

No one had ever sacrificed anything for her before.

So, she trusted Sans, and it was a big statement on Chara’s part.

But, and there was the problem, it had been Chara the one who had betrayed his trust, more than once: first, she had tried to push him to take her soul, and then, she had almost caused his death.

Why did Chara have to be so destructive, even when she didn’t mean to?

Chara only wanted to be good and, even though she tried so hard to help people, she always hurt them, one way or the other.

“kid, it’s alright. you didn’t mean it. none of you did” said Sans, stroking gently her hand, before hiding his fingers under the cover. “it was just a mistake. people do that all the time, i don’t hold it against ya, ‘kay?”

Chara nodded slowly, without looking at him. She just couldn’t bear his stare, now. She didn’t want to see him all forgiving, when she didn’t deserve it.

Some mistakes were set in stone. There were things in life people had only one shot at, and this was one of those.

“’m still alive and kickin’” Sans continued, smiling at her and Asriel. “well… not really kickin’. ‘m not that active, yanno? but, uh… i guess ‘m alive and yawnin’. yea, that suits me better.”

Chara, who had been staring blankly at the lake, snorted. Yeah, that proverb didn’t really work for Sans. He had never kicked anything in his life, besides when he had to send his boxers towards the laundry basket.

The laughter made the atmosphere lighter, and Chara smiled a little.

Maybe she could actually let herself receive Sans’s forgiveness, one day.

But, right now, it was too much to accept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	7. A bad feeling (1/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans has a weird dream about Asriel and Chara. Later, the skelebros get into a small quarrel, but they patch things up right away. Sans gets involved in Papyrus's cosplay shenanigans.

Sans was feeling cold. His bones were rattling softly and he had curled up, trying to retain some heat.

He opened his eye sockets and looked around, but there was only darkness.

“wha… where am i?” he whispered, blinking slowly.

Every noise felt distant and muffled, even his own voice, and the sounds echoed into nothingness, transforming into distorted noises.

Sans squinted when an orange light hit his skull. He raised a hand to cover his eye sockets, as he walked towards the light source.

“… are you sure this is going to work?” asked a soft voice, timid and a little shaky.

“You saw what it did to them.”

“But what if it works differently with humans? I mean… buttercups affected dad and Sans’s magic. But flesh-“

A small shape got up and walked towards a library. It opened a book and showed it to the other little shape.

“In this book it says that those flowers came from the surface, and that humans avoided them because of their poisonous nature. I think the effects themselves might be different, but the result is the same: if you take enough of this, you’ll die.”

“chara?” whispered Sans, trying to get closer, but he couldn’t push his body any further. An invisible barrier was preventing him from reaching the kids.

“I’ve never seen this flower before in Ebbot City. I think it’s very ancient... maybe it’s gone extinct on the surface and survived only Underground. I don’t know. Anyways, with mom and dad always around, there’s no other thing we can use to do this, so the buttercups will have to do.”

Chara put the book back in the library, and an uncomfortable silence fell on the room.

“How does it work for humans?” whispered the other kid. Sans knew it had to be Asriel, even though the scene was so blurred it was impossible to distinguish their features.

Chara paused for a moment, then she took a deep breath.

“What do you mean? Are you talking about the buttercups’ effect or… you know… death?”

“Both.”

Chara sat by Asriel’s side and took one of his paws, squishing its fleshy cushions.

“Well… death for humans can come in many ways. You can die of old age, in your sleep, or you can die of sickness, or because of an accident...”

“Monster can do that as well. I’m talking about… how does it feel like? Does it… you know… hurt?”

Chara flinched. “I don’t… I don’t really know. I hope not. I think the worst thing is _becoming_ dead, more than being dead. That’s the difficult part. Being dead is… um… peaceful? I had an uncle on the surface, and he died when he was young. I saw him in the coffin, and he looked as if he had been asleep.”

Asriel was deeply disturbed by what Chara was saying, but he couldn’t stop now.

“So, you don’t turn to dust?”

“I think we do… with time. Flesh withers away until nothing’s left. But no, humans don’t turn to dust immediately.”

Asriel started to bite his small claws. “How do I take your soul, then? If you won’t become dust, how does it… pop out?”

“It just comes out when the body is too damaged to host it, I guess… and you’ll have to be right there to take it, before anyone can interfere!”

Asriel took a deep, shaky breath and hid his muzzle behind his paws. “I’m so sorry… I wish I was strong enough to just, you know, take it even like this, right now! Without you having… to take the p-poison.” He shook his head. “Oh, Chara… I’m not sure of this. I mean, there must be another way… I don’t want you to suffer! And I don’t want to lose you.”

Chara gave him a look, but her expression softened when she saw that Asriel’s eyes were filled with tears. She tried to smile as she held his paws. “If you take my soul, we’ll be together again, and closer than ever! It’s not like I’m going anywhere, Az. Only my body will die. I would never leave you alone, you know that, right?”

Asriel sniffed and Chara caressed his cheek to console him.

“I’m sorry that you have to do this to, you know? But there’s no other way, if we want to get out of here…”

Asriel swallowed and nodded. He moped his tears with a sleeve of his pajamas and he hugged Chara.

They cuddled in her bed, and she murmured soothing things to him.

A pink, soft hand reached for the light switch of the room and, suddenly, everything went dark.

The kids’ room vanished together with their chattering, and Sans was alone again, in the never-ending, empty darkness.

“is this real?” he whispered. He pinched his arm to wake up, but it only made him flinch.

Sans just wanted the dream to end. Why couldn’t he wake up?

He turned in search of another light source to follow, and he bumped onto something.

Sans fell on his back and looked up.

Two purple dots were staring at him, silent and ominous, from above. A hand with a hole in its palm reached for him.

Sans wished he could shortcut somewhere, anywhere, or run away, but he was paralyzed. He couldn’t think, not even breathe.

The hand grabbed the little skeleton by his cervical vertebrae and lifted him in the air, as if he hadn’t been heavier than a bag full of cotton. The hand held him tight, making Sans gasp for air. His bony fingers tried to grab his attacker, but they didn’t catch anything.

“ **BEWARE** ,” said a raspy and metallic voice, coming through a wall of static. “ **THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING**.”

 

Sans suddenly woke up, frozen in his bed. The covers had fallen on the floor, surrounded by a wasteland of potato chips crumbs and candy wrappings.

The little skeleton stayed there, unable to move for a few seconds, before his body became less stiff. Sans slowly regained control of his limbs, then he wrapped himself in the covers, trying to get warmer. He was still rattling.

Sans didn’t remember what his dream had been about, but it hadn’t been pleasant. It was always like that. His mind cut out the nightmares in his wake, preventing them from hurting too much, but, that way, Sans couldn’t understand what was plaguing him, and that made it even worse.

Sans only knew that the dream had something to do with the kids… Asriel and Chara. He had been dreaming about them for a long time now, maybe because he was so worried about their wellbeing… but, again, the memories were too hazy to recollect anything specific. The only thing Sans was sure about was that the doctor had made an appearance in his dream.

It was always Him. Even after a year and a half, the doctor was still tormenting Sans.

The little skeleton sighed. He didn’t want to get out of bed, but there wasn’t any water left in his room and he was really thirsty. The muffled noises coming from the kitchen told him that Papyrus was already awake. Maybe his brother’s company was what he needed in that moment.

Sans looked at the alarm clock and moaned. It was only eight A.M. For him it was like dawn.

Sans scratched his skull and found the strength to get up. His soul gave a little shiver and started to hum faster, trying to warm up his body.

Sans put on the first pair of pants he found and a jumper with a bone pattern on it.

He took a shortcut to the kitchen and appeared at his brother’s side.

“g’mornin’, bro,” he said, hiding a yawn under a hand.

“GAH!” Papyrus jumped and the eggs he was cooking took a single ticket towards the ceiling, splattering on it with a squishy noise.

The brothers stared at them, Sans surprised and a little amused, and Papyrus with boiling rage.

“BROTHER! STOP POPPING OUT OF NOTHINGNESS LIKE THAT! ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A SOUL ATTACK?!” he cried, pressing a hand on his chest.

“sorry. i just wanted to say g’mornin’.”

“YES, YES… OF COURSE” Papyrus gave Sans a look and then frowned at the sight of eggs on the ceiling. “HOW ARE WE EVEN GOING TO GET _THAT_ CLEANED?”

“well… you can lift me up and i’ll take them down. sounds good?”

Papyrus turned towards his brother with wide eye sockets. With a swift motion, he caught Sans and held him at a safe distance, shaking him like a doll.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY BROTHER? WHERE’S THE TRUE SANS? ARE YOU A CLONE?” Papyrus stopped for a second and got paler. “I KNEW IT. FIRST, ASGORE’S CLONES… THEN, YOU. SOMEONE IS CONDUCTING EXPERIMENTS IN THE PALACE AND THEY HAVE SUBSTITUTED MY DEAR BROTHER WITH AN EFFICIENT ROBOT!” Papyrus turned Sans around and meddled with his jumper. “WHERE ARE THE BATTERIES IN THIS THING?”

Sans, who had been chuckling, burst out laughing, when Papyrus tickled his ribcage to search for the robot’s power source.

“b-bro, stop… hehehe…” he managed to say, between laughs. “yanno that’s where my _funny-bone_ is!”

Papyrus made a disgusted noise.

“OKAY, IT’S YOU. I DON’T KNOW IF I SHOULD BE SICKENED OR RELIEVED. THOSE TERRIBLE JOKES OF YOURS, BROTHER… THEY’RE TRULY A DISGRACE.”

“i try to not disappoint” said Sans, giving a little tap on Papyrus’s nasal cavity. “so… why did ya think i had been substituted by a robot?”

Papyrus put Sans on a chair and took a spatula. He then climbed on the table and scooped the eggs from the ceiling.

“YOU WAKING UP EARLY AND OFFERING TO DO WORK WITHOUT ANY KIND OF BLACKMAIL? YOU MUST ADMIT IT IS UNCANNY, BROTHER.”

Sans game him a sheepish smile. “sorry if i scared ya with my, um, ‘abnormal’ behavior. ‘s not like i wanted to wake up soon… i had a nightmare, and… i thought it’d be better if i did somethin’ to distract myself. ‘s too soon to go to work anyway.”

Papyrus frowned and, after putting the eggs in the trash, sat by Sans’s side.

“Was it that bad, brother?”

Sans shook his shoulders. “nah. ‘s better now. it just left me with this uneasy feelin’… like somethin’s gonna go wrong, today. horribly wrong.”

Papyrus patted Sans’s skull to console him and smiled. “WHY SHOULD THINGS GO WRONG, SANS? YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO GO TO WORK TODAY! A VERY IMPORTANT EVENT IS INCOMING TOMORROW… DON’T YOU REMEMBER?”

Sans furrowed his bony eyebrows. “uh… a very important event?”

“YES! OF COURSE! DID YOU FORGET?”

Papyrus seemed wounded by his lack of response, and Sans tried to remember what was so special with that day. Was it Papyrus’s birthday? No… no, Sans wasn’t THAT absent-minded! He remembered his brother’s birthday better than his own. But… um…

“’m kinda lost on this one, bro,” admitted Sans, his cheekbones taking a blueish hue. “is it important?”

“OF COURSE IT IS!!! IT IS VERY, VERY MUCH IMPORTANT!” Papyrus spread his arms in the air, hitting Sans’s face in the process.

“ow.”

“OH, GOD, DID I HURT YOU, BROTHER?!”

“no, no, ‘s fine! go ahead…”

Sans didn’t want to interrupt his brother’s grandiose speeches.

“Okay… if you’re so sure about it… ANYWAY! TODAY IS THE DAY BEFORE HOPING DAY! AND THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS GOING TO PAY A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO THE HAPPINESS OF THE MONSTER COMMUNITY! I AIM AT THE FIRST PLACE OF THE COSPLAY CONTEST – AS I AM SURE YOU REMEMBER, BROTHER!”

Sans gave him a plastic smile, sweating slightly. Oh… of course. The day before _Hoping day_ … a bunch of noise before the dumbest celebration in the whole Underground, on the anniversary of the worst day of monster history. Now Sans knew why he had forgotten about it. As much as he had tried, Sans had never been good at contributing to Hoping day. When people started to ask him what his views on monsterkind’s future were, they walked away more depressed than they had been to begin with. Papyrus was the one who shined in these occasions, not him.

“oh… of course… yea… the… the cosplay thing.”

Papyrus’s arms fell by his sides, and he put on a disappointed expression.

“AH… I KNEW YOU HAD FORGOTTEN, BROTHER.”

Sans felt a jolt of panic and stood up, holding Papyrus’s arm. “no, no, bro! ‘m gonna help you with this thing. um… how… how is it goin’ with your costume?”

Papyrus crossed his arms. “IT IS GOING REALLY WELL, BROTHER. I HAVE ALREADY BUILT THE MAIN BODY. I ONLY MISS THE CLOAK, AND IT’S GOING TO BE PERFECT. THE FIRST PLACE WILL DEFINITELY BE MINE.”

Sans felt immensely ashamed. He had been so focused on himself, lately. How could he have forgotten this? Papyrus seemed to be really invested in the contest.

“’m sorry i forgot, bro. i…”

“No, it’s fine.” Papyrus sighed. “You had a lot of things to worry about. Your nightmares, the judging job, the sentry post…”

“c’mon, i have sentry duty only from time to time. besides, you’re a sentry too, and you have nightmares as well!”

“NOT AS BAD AS YOURS.”

“bro, ‘s my fault, really. i should’ve been more carin’ with you.”

“YOU GOT POISONED. YOU STAYED TWO WEEKS AT THE HOSPITAL. YOU HAD IT FAR WORSE.”

Sans didn’t know if he should’ve laughed or cried. “what is this, pap? a misery contest between us? listen… i hafta take my responsibility here. i left you to work on this all on your own.” He paused and scratched his neck. “if there’s somethin’ i can do to help ya now… tell me, please.”

Papyrus looked at him hesitantly, rubbing his hands. There it was the look that always made Sans feel like garbage: a mixture of guilt and worry. Sans knew what was going through Papyrus’s head; his brother was thinking that he shouldn’t have been so pretentious with Sans, since the little skeleton was always sick one way or the other, and then, there was his melancholy as well…

“c’mon, bro. i can take it.”

“I don’t know, Sans… maybe it’s better if you stay at home and sleep for a while. I’ll go fetch the cloak by myself.”

Anger boiled at the bottom of Sans’s soul. He wanted to help… he _was going_ to help.

“pap, really! i’m fully recovered. i can do stuff for you. i’ve just been lazing around like usual.”

“But yesterday you were feeling nauseous and didn’t eat anything. You’re not fine.”

Sans felt the compelling desire to smash his own forehead on the table. Why did Papyrus get like that, sometimes? First, he nagged Sans and made him feel guilty for not participating enough; then, when Sans actually showed some initiative, Papyrus retreated and made him feel even guiltier.

“papyrus. ‘m gonna be mad, if you don’t let me pick up this thing for you. i can TELEPORT, for fuck’s sake. let me do it!”

His brother’s face scrunched up. “LANGUAGE, SANS! Besides, you shouldn’t use your magic when you’re ill.”

Sans didn’t know how he was resisting the urge to scream. Papyrus’s protectiveness could be so frustrating.

“’m not feeling ill _right now_! i can do it. really.”

They looked at each other for a long instant, then Papyrus snorted. “Okay, then! You can go pick up the cloak.”

Sans almost melted in relief. Thank God that stupid discussion was over.

“BUT.”

“what? what is it now? i gotta wear some kinda trackin’ device connected to the hospital, so i won’t die on the road? why do ya always hafta make me lose my marbles naggin’ about my health-”

“NOW YOU’RE BEING RUDE, SANS. YOU KNOW THAT I WORRY ABOUT YOU.”

Sans realized how he had spoken to his brother and he shrunk a little. “yea, i… i know you do it ‘cause ya worry. but, pap, ‘m fine, rea-“

“EVERYTIME I GET MY EYES OFF OF YOU SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENS TO YOU!”

Well, Sans couldn’t really debate with him on that one. He had been extremely unlucky, in the last two years. If Sans hadn’t been a skeleton of science, he would’ve thought that the doctor had cursed him.

“yea… i know. it’s been really weird, lately. but, c’mon… just let me do this one thing for you. please?”

Papyrus stared at him for a long instant, then he sighed.

“Okay. Actually, I like that you want to help, Sans, but… you know, I’m worried something will happen to you. So, what I wanted to say before you interrupted me, is that you should _at least_ eat something healthy before going outside: that will raise your HP a little and, well, make me feel less anxious.”

“oh.” Sans gave him a tight grin. “o-okay, then. what’s… what’s on the menu, chef?”

Papyrus felt a little better by being called like that and smiled. “EGGS A LA PAPYRUS, OF COURSE.”

Sans wasn’t sure he wanted to know what there was in those eggs, but he nodded and sat back on a chair.

“okay, then. i’ll eat.”

It was the least he could do. Sans didn’t want to drag their quarrel any longer… when they argued, especially when it was over misunderstandings, it ruined Sans’s whole day.

Papyrus lightened up at the prospect of feeding his brother something better than Grillby’s greasy food and went back to cooking.

They stayed in silence for a while, trying to be stoic, however, at a certain point, they couldn’t bear to be angry at each other anymore.

“listen…”

“LISTEN, BROTHER…”

They both stopped.

“GO AHEAD.”

“no, you go, it’s fine.”

“SANS-“

Papyrus sighed and covered his face with a hand. A smell of burning eggs was spreading in the kitchen, but he didn’t care.

“I’M SORRY FOR YELLING AT YOU AND FOR BEING SO ANNOYING. I WAS ANGRY YOU DIDN’T REMEMBER ABOUT THE CONTEST, BUT THEN I FELT GUILTY BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN ILL, AND IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT IF YOU FORGET THINGS, WITH ALL THAT’S HAPPENED TO YOU. IT’S NOT LIKE YOU DON’T CARE.”

“oh, pap… i care so much about you-“

“I KNOW. I KNOW. IT’S JUST THAT… I WISHED WE COULD DO THIS TOGETHER, AND- I WAS BEING SELFISH, THAT’S ALL. AND I’M SORRY FOR BEING SO APPREHENSIVE WITH YOU. I’M ALWAYS AFRAID THAT SOMETHING ELSE WILL HAPPEN TO YOU IF I’M NOT THERE, AND…” Sans stopped his ramblings by hugging him, and Papyrus tried to push him away. “I’M TRYING TO EXPLAIN, SANS! DON’T DISTRACT ME WITH AFFECTION!”

“don’t worry, i understood perfectly,” said Sans. “i won’t make you worried anymore. promise.”

Papyrus sighed and let the wooden spoon he had been using to cook fall on the floor. He picked up Sans and hugged him back. “REALLY?”

“yea, really. cross on my soul.”

It would’ve been a heartwarming moment, if it hadn’t been for the thick, black smoke that had invaded the kitchen. The brother started to cough and choke on the burnt eggs’ fog, blindly searching for an exit.

“open the window!”

“I CAN’T SEE IT!”

Sans searched for it with a hand and they both fell outside when it opened, landing on a snow poff.

They coughed their souls out of their chest, while the fire alarm set off in the kitchen, waking up all the neighbors.

“It’s those stupid skeletons again” grumbled an old bear who had opened a window to see what was going on. “Go back to sleep, dear.”

Sans and Papyrus got up, scraping snow off their clothes. The little skeleton turned off both the alarm and the fire. It was the fifth time that Papyrus set their kitchen on fire, that week. A personal record.

“um… pap?”

“YES, BROTHER?”

“what if we fetch that cloak together? ‘s not like you hafta clean the house right away… the cosplay has the priority, amiright?”

Papyrus stared at the wasteland that was their kitchen and sighed. Maybe he was going to be lazy, just for once.

“ACTUALLY, THIS IS A CLEVER PLAN, BROTHER… BUT YOU’RE GOING TO EAT SOMETHING HEALTHY BEFORE WE LEAVE!”

Sans groaned. What a fool he had been… he had actually thought he had skipped the healthy eating for the day.

 

Sans was still sadly munching on a cucumber, when they started the walk towards the Bunny Shop in Snowdin.

“BROTHER, STOP MAKING THAT FACE.”

“what face?”

“LIKE YOU’RE GOING TO CRY SOON. IT’S JUST SOME VEGETABLES. THEY’RE GOOD FOR YOU.”

Sans almost sobbed. The cucumber wasn’t that bad, actually… the problem was the total lack of condiments, especially ketchup.

Ketchup always helped everything taste better. Sans had no idea how he got that passion for that weird human food, but in the orphanage they hadn’t many treats, and the little ketchup wrappers that ended their lives in the garbage cans were bright enough to look like candy. So, Sans had started munching on them out of curiosity, and, before he knew it, he got addicted.

Then, many years later, Sans had talked to Grillby’s about that wonderful substance, and the fire monster had created his own little brand of ketchup. The MTT fast-food chain was still trying to steal his formula, and sent many agents undercover – it was really easy to spot them, since they were always covered in glittery clothing -, but they had never discovered it. Not even Sans knew what was in Grillby’s ketchup, but he was pretty sure his addiction had gotten ten times worse, when he had started to be a regular at that bar.

Speaking of which… maybe, if Sans was fast enough, he could sneak out to Grillby’s and buy some ketchup bottles for his secret stash. He would’ve been back in a blink of an eye, pretending to always have been with Papyr-

A hand grabbed tightly Sans’s hand.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING, BROTHER,” said Papyrus, looking at him with narrowed eyes. “YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT GOING TO THAT GREASEHOLE WHILE I AM DISTRACTED, ARE YOU NOT?”

Sans started to sweat.

“wha… of course not!”

“YOU BIG, FAT LIAR OF A BROTHER.”

Sans grinned.

“please, bro! just one bottle of ketchup! i haven’t drank it in ages! just one… ‘m gonna have some kinda abstinence crisis if i don’t have some…”

“NO.”

“aw, c’mon, paps. one’s not gonna kill me. it’d make your little big brother very happy.”

Papyrus looked at him and his expression softened. “FINE. JUST ONE, THOUGH! AND ONLY BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN ILL. CONSIDER THIS YOUR “CANDY-PASS” AFTER A DOCTOR’S VISIT.”

Sans smiled. “you wanna get somethin’ too? ‘s better if you’re there as well.”

“WELL. ON ONE HAND, I DEEPLY DESPISE GRILLBY’S. IT STINKS, EVERY SURFACE IS OILY, AND ALL THE TOWN DRUNKS GO THERE.”

Sans almost chocked on the cucumber, and hit his chest to not suffocate. Should he tell to Papyrus that he was the king of the town drunks’ club? He had earned the title when he had chugged five bottles of ketchup without even breathing, under the admired stares of Grillby’s clients. After that, Sans had closed himself in the bathroom and had regretted deeply that decision, having an uncomfortable chat with the toilet.

It was true that Sans had promised to be more honest with Papyrus, cross on the soul and all… but… maybe, just maybe, he was could keep that embarrassing episode to himself.

“ON THE OTHER HAND, THE DESSERTS ARE REALLY GOOD, EVEN THOUGH THEY MAKE ME FAT JUST BY LOOKING AT THEM.”

“fat? but, bro… you’re all bones…”

Papyrus stiffened and Sans chuckled.

“SANS, I’M GOING TO TAKE YOUR CANDY-PASS BACK.”

“i don’t actually need your permission, bro. yanno… i can just shortcut my way outta this, if i want. however, i was tryin’ to make ya see that your approval is important to me.”

 “TSK. I KNOW YOU WOULDN’T DO THIS BEHIND MY BACK, SANS. DEEP DOWN, YOU’RE A SKELETON OF HONOR.”

Sans snorted. “honor? sorry, don’t have a lot of that, here.”

They continued to needle each other until they reached the Bunny Shop, and they stopped in the middle of the road. The shop was unusually crowded. Everyone was pressing on the entrance, trying to get the last items for themselves.

“are they selling the last bunny-phone or what?”

“I DON’T KNOW…” Papyrus looked worried. “I HOPE THEY DIDN’T SELL MY CLOAK! I NEED IT FOR THE COSPLAY! IT’S THE FINAL PIECE! IT WON’T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT IT.”

Sans threw the remains of the cucumber away and hid it in the snow with a foot. “i can get it for ya if you want.”

Sans tapped into his magic reserves. His objective was to shortcut himself in the shop, pick up the cloak, leave the money on the countertop, and vanish. However, at the last moment, Papyrus grabbed his arm.

“BROTHER, NO! THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE IN THERE! YOU’RE GOING TO BE SQUISH-“

Sans had the impression of falling into spiral at a vertiginous speed, Papyrus hugging him so tight that it felt like their bodies were being mashed together. An instant later, they appeared in the back of the Bunnyshop, rolling between cardboard boxes.

Sans got his bottom stuck in a box, while Papyrus drowned in a sea of boxes, waving his feet.

“bro! are you okay?” cried Sans.

A muffled noise came from the boxes mountain.

Sans used his blue magic to get Papyrus out of there, and his brother gasped for air.

“HOLY MOLY! IS THAT HOW YOU TRAVEL EVERY TIME YOU DO THE VANISHING THING?”

“no. it’s less traumatic, usually. i never travelled with someone before… i just need some practice.”

Sans grunted, trying to get out of the box, but it was still stuck to his back. Papyrus had pity on him and freed him, throwing the box away.

“WHERE ARE WE?”

“on the back of the shop, i guess… don’t ever startle me while i’m shortcutting again, though! it’s dangerous. i can manage if ‘m expectin’ it, but… it’s a miracle we didn’t get stuck in a wall!”

However Papyrus wasn’t listening to him anymore. His glistening eyes were fixed on a red piece of clothing that popped between all the others.

“LOOK, BROTHER! THAT’S IT! IT’S THE CLOAK!”

Papyrus grabbed Sans and then lifted the cloak in the air like a trophy.

“IT’S BEAUTIFUL!”

“yea, i can see that! remember to leave the money here, though. if we go back in that hell of a line, we’re gonna be here the whole day! the contest starts after dinner ‘n ya still hafta finish the costume, so, no time to lose.”

Papyrus hesitated. “I DON’T KNOW, SANS…”

“c’mon, bro, we can…  i dunno… leave a note? so they’ll know it was us.”

“OKAY… IT DOESN’T SOUND THAT BAD. BUT WHAT IF THEY DON’T REMEMBER ABOUT US AND DON’T KNOW WHO TOOK THE CLOAK?”

“pap. even the rocks remember about us, here. we make our kitchen blow up almost every day…”

“WELL! ERM… I GUESS YOU’RE RIGHT, BROTHER.”

Papyrus scribbled a note on a piece of paper he always brought in his pocket in case someone asked him an autograph, and left it at the cloak’s place, together with a few gold coins.

He seemed satisfied, and Sans shortcutted back outside. This travel didn’t feel traumatic, and Papyrus had to look around to even realize that they had moved.

“OH. THIS WAS MUCH BETTER.”

“yea. now i chose to bring ya along… yanno that when ‘m scared my magic gets all wonky.”

“YEAH, I KNOW THAT FAR TOO WELL, BROTHER!”


	8. A bad feeling (2/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans gets an ominous warning by an old acquaintance.

Papyrus was immensely proud of his outfit. His walk was even more upbeat than usual, and his red cloak majestically waved in the wind.

Sans, on the other hand, had to dress up as the villain of the comic Papyrus was cosplaying as. His brother had forced him to wear some sort of full-body pajamas of a green dinosaur.

“so… who am i again? barney, the chubby fossil?”

“OH, MY GOD! IT’S NOT A DINOSAUR, BROTHER! IT’S A HUMAN!”

“a human? but humans don’t look like this. you’ve seen chara, right?”

“WELL! CHARA IS JUST A VERY YOUNG EXEMPLAR! I BET ADULT HUMANS ARE FAR MORE MENACING AND INTIMIDATING! I’M SURE THEY GROW CLAWS AND THICK SKIN, LIKE GODZILLA. OTHERWISE, HOW ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO INTIMIDATE ENEMIES IN BATTLE?”

Sans gulped. If the doctor had left something of his philosophy to him, was a streak of fear towards humans: they didn’t really need claws or fancy weapons to hurt a monster.

“ANYWAYS,” continued Papyrus, after a deep sigh. “YOUR CHARACTER IS LORD PMORZOV, THE EVIL HUMAN WHO CAST US UNDERGROUND.”

“lord _what_?”

“LORD PMR… PMARZ... YOU GET IT!”

“i’ve never read of this human in any of the books of the royal library.”

Papyrus gasped, deeply offended. “HOW DARE YOU INSULT THE HISTORICAL AUTENTICITY OF _SUPERMONSTER AGAINST THE FORCES OF HUMANS_!”

Sans lifted his hands in surrender. He hadn’t had any intention of destroying his brother’s weird ideas about monster history. They were precious comic material that had to be preserved… besides, even if Sans had tried to convince Papyrus for the hundredth time that what was contained in comic books wasn’t necessarily real, his words would’ve fallen into an empty void.

“’m sorry! i don’t mean to offend supermonster,” said Sans, shrinking under Papyrus’s stare. “he’s very cool, and he’s definitely existed. _definitely_. same for lord pmorzov or whatever his name is.”

Papyrus stared at him with his arms crossed, then he relaxed a little.

“FINE. YOU’RE FORGIVEN… BUT ONLY THIS ONCE.”

“thanks. you’re the best, bro.”

 

The celebrations took place in Waterfall, a place that was usually very quiet, but that, during the day before Hoping Day, filled up with monsters. There was every sort of booths that were selling sweet and salted foods – employers of the MTT fast-food chain, Grillby and Muffet’s spiders were trying to steal each other’s clients -, and the air was filled with the inviting scent of not-lethal cooking… something that Sans had experienced only outside his house.

Hoping Day was a celebration that occurred on the anniversary of the day monsters had been sealed Underground. It had been invented to prevent them from dwelling in despair and to help them to think about a brighter future.

Hoping Day was a very solemn occasion, however, the day before it was a big party, and every monster had to do something to make others happier. Everyone had a particular ability and, during the day, monsters exhibited themselves or sold goods made by hand, according to a specific time-table. It was like a second Giftmas, but monsters felt it more strongly than that, since it was rooted far more deeply into their history than a human celebration.

The evening of the day before Hoping Day was reserved to the weirdest hobbies that interested more young people, and, on that occasion, all the cosplayers and anime lovers crawled out of their hiding holes to be themselves.

Sans’s hiding hole was more of the science nerd kind, but he liked to be part of the anime weirdos anyway. Papyrus was really into that stuff, so it had to be good.

Sans didn’t remember the last time he had just sit down and watched an anime with his brother. They used to do that a lot more, before the doctor. Everything was so easy back then.

Sans frowned a little, slowing his pace. He should’ve been more there for Papyrus. Sans was always so absorbed by his own problems that he had been neglecting his brother. Not that it was entirely his fault, but Papyrus had been so happy to share the cosplay contest with him that it made Sans’s soul tighten.

“SANS? ARE YOU ALRIGHT, BROTHER?”

Papyrus squeezed his hand and Sans smiled to him. “yea, yea… just spacin’ out.”

Papyrus was starting to make his “Sans is still recovering, I shouldn’t have forced him to do this” expression, so Sans dragged him forward before he could overthink it, asking questions to distract him.

“so, how’re you feelin’ ‘bout the contest? nervous?”

Papyrus beamed. “OF COURSE NOT, BROTHER! I HAVE NO DOUBTS I AM GOING TO WIN IT THANKS TO MY COSTUME-MAKING SKILLS AND YOUR ADEQUATE CONFETTI-SHOOTER MACHINE!”

Sans chuckled. “aw, thanks, bro. bein’ adequate is all i ever dreamt of.”

They continued to chat while walking through the intricate ways of Waterfall, avoiding puddles of water. The vapor coming from the insides of the Earth often coalesced on the ceiling, and then fell like rain. That evening the weather – or the Underground’s version of it – was particularly calm, and no rain was in sight. The illusion of having stars over their heads was more vivid than ever, offering them a clear ceiling, and the crystals of Waterfall glowed stronger every time someone passed at their side.

Sans sighed. He had forgotten how beautiful Waterfall really was, but the deep feeling of melancholy piercing his soul made him remember why he had done so: Waterfall’s ceiling was nothing more than a sweet lie. They were still there, Underground, and those weren’t real stars. They had never been, not even when Sans had pretended so.

The little skeleton shook his head. That wasn’t the moment to be a sad sack. He had to put himself in the character of… what was his name? … Lord Pmorzov?

Papyrus had given him a Sans lines to remember, since they were going to do a dramatic representation of the comic on stage. They had around five minutes to convey the deep thought Papyrus had put into his cosplay, so… Sans hoped to not do something stupid, like tripping on stage or forgetting his lines.

The groups of monsters they met along the way increased in frequency, until the brothers reached the heart of the fair. Big, magic, shiny letters were floating at the entrance, colored like a rainbow; they said “Day before Hoping Day, 20XX”.

Sans tried to smile while Papyrus signed them up for the cosplaying contest, but his eye lights continued to dart towards the sign.

Why was he so worried? What the hell was wrong with him?

_how can they be so happy? this’s the day we were trapped here. this’s when most of us got killed. somethin’ wrong’s gonna happen. i can feel it in my bones._

Sans hit his face with a hand to get those stupid thoughts out of his skull.

“shut up! just shut up. don’t ruin this. you’re just being a wimp,” he whispered to himself.

The monster who was handling the cosplaying contest looked at Sans talking to himself like a madman and leaned towards Papyrus, who was staring at his brother with a worried expression.

“Is everything okay with him? He looks a little… uh… shaky?”

“YES, HE SAID SO. AND HE WOULDN’T LIE TO ME. HE’S PROMISED TO BE HONEST.”

The monster nodded and sat back on his chair, even though he didn’t look convinced at all.

Papyrus took Sans’s hand and lead him towards the backstage. The temporary construction had been erected near Waterfall’s… well, waterfall. A crowd had formed around the stage and they were almost all dressed up as some character from a comic, a book or a game.

Sans had no idea there were so many nerds Underground. It was heartening.

Papyrus made sure they arrived safe and sound behind the stage, and there they sat, waiting for someone to tell them when their turn was going to arrive.

Sans sat on a rock and almost fell asleep, while Papyrus was finishing his make-up, giving him some dust stains for drama and an evil grin painted on his cheekbones. Then, it became Sans’s turn to hold the mirror in front of his brother, while Papyrus finished his own make-up, trying to give himself muscles were there was only bone.

“you’re so buff, bro. it’s unreal,” said Sans, with a grin.

“SHUT UP, SANS.”

“you should put another pillow in there. those triceps are lackin’.”

Papyrus gave him a look and opened his mouth to answer, but he was interrupted by a shy voice, coming from behind him.

“U-uh… s-s-sorry. A-are you c…c-c-cosplaying as _Supermonster against the forces of humans_?”

Papyrus turned and Sans lowered the mirror to see who was talking to them. It was a short and chubby lizard monster, covered in yellow scales. She was wearing a tight red and blue outfit, together with a blond wig, and she was holding a plastic replica of a magical staff in her right hand.

She was looking down, a red glowing stronger on her cheeks the longer Sans and Papyrus stayed silent, looking at her.

Sans was sure he had already seen that lizard somewhere. She looked extremely familiar, but, dressed-up like that, it was difficult to say.

“OF COURSE! I (and my brother Sans) HAVE PREPARED THE COOLEST SUPERMONSTER COSPLAY! I AM SUPERMONSTER (for I am the most heroic one), WHILE MY BROTHER WILL PORTRAY THE VERY EVIL LORD PMAR… PMOR-“

“pmorzov?” suggested Sans, smiling.

“PMORZOV!” exclaimed Papyrus, triumphant. “OF COURSE I CAN REMEMBER SUCH A DIFFICULT AND NOT AT ALL RIDICULOUS NAME! MY BROTHER SANS ISN’T ACTUALLY AN EVIL HUMAN, AS YOU CAN SEE… I KNOW THE COSPLAY IS REALLY CONVINCING… BUT SANS IS A HARMLESS AND RATHER PLEASANT INDIVIDUAL TO BE AROUND, WHEN HE DOESN’T LEAVE HIS SOCKS ON THE COUCH AND MAKES ME WORRIED. SO, DO NOT BE AFRAID OF HIM, MISS LIZARD.”

“aw, you’re so sweet, bro.”

“I KNOW. I AM THE BESTEST. AND YOU, MISS LIZARD, WHO ARE YOU GOING TO COSPLAY AS?”

The lizard monster suddenly brightened up, and her shame turned into a passionate expression. For some reason, Sans felt like Papyrus had just awakened a sleeping dragon.

“Well, I’m cosplaying as the lead character of _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie_! You see, in the first season she gets this wonderful character arc and I just couldn’t resist, I mean, I know this outfit isn’t really for me and I feel a little weird wearing it, but, I adore the show and I wanted to show it some affection, so I decided to participate to the cosplaying contest and show everyone what a wonderful story this is and-“

Sans didn’t understand the rest of her speech and just stared at her blankly, smiling and nodding, in an attempt to not disappoint her. He had no idea what she was talking about anymore, but she seemed so happy about it that he didn’t want to ruin her enthusiasm.

“… you absolutely have to see the show! If you liked _Supermonster against the forces of humans_ , you’re definitely going to like _Mew Mew Kissy Cutie_! Such compelling writing! Awesome characters! And the plot! So good! You have to… oh! What is that?”

She pointed at the confetti gun protruding from the pocket on Sans’s belly. For some reason, according to Supermonster’s mangaka, humans had something in common with marsupials as well – besides being a weird bunch of reptilians who had arrived from space. Sans didn’t mind: all his hoodies had pockets in the abdomen area, so he was already pretty good at carrying stuff around in a pocket.

“oh… this? uh… ‘s nothin’, really,” said Sans, taking the gun out. He pressed the trigger, and a cloud of shining magic confetti fell on their heads with a loud “bang” for drama. “it’s supposed to be a laser gun, but uh- yea. it’s a confetti gun.”

Papyrus snatched the machine away from Sans’s hands and patted his brother’s skull. “AS YOU CAN SEE, MISS LIZARD, THIS ADEQUATE ENGINE WAS BUILT BY MY LAZY BROTHER, WHO SOMETIMES CAN BE LESS LAZY. I AM VERY PROUD OF HIM, BECAUSE OF THIS.”

The lizard monster’s eyes were sparking.

“Wow! S-s-so cool,” she said, her stuttering back in place. It seemed as if she couldn’t talk without it, except for when her favorite shows were involved. “C-c-c-can I look at it?”

“SURE. HERE, TAKE A VERY THOROUGH LOOK.”

Papyrus held the gun as the lizard monster examined it. For a moment, she had the clinical expression of someone who could assemble and reassemble a computer with their eyes closed, and she smiled.

“H-h-how did you… h-h-h-how d-d-d-did you p-p-put magic in the b-b-b-bullets? I-it’s a-a-a-awesome.”

Sans was feeling really weird. No one had ever complimented him for something he had done, not to mention for something so silly. The doctor would’ve thrown that gun out of the window and said that Sans could do much better; he had always had the habit of encouraging people by deprecation… a questionable attitude to say the least.

“i found some empty bullets in the dump,” mumbled Sans. “and, um… i filled them with almost spent white magic. so, instead of forming an attack, it just crumbles when it gets out.”

The lizard monster smiled and gave them the gun back.

“I-i-it is r-r-really c-cool.”

“uh, i don’t know-“

Sans didn’t have the time to self-deprecate at his best, because, as soon as he was starting to get blue in the face, a Snowdrake called the brothers’ names.

Sans and Papyrus had to rush towards the stage, and the lizard monster shyly waved her hand at them, stuttering a soft “good luck”.

She seemed so lonely in the crowd of cosplayers that Sans felt a twinge of guilt for leaving her like that. She looked like she needed some emotional support.

_dang it… i don’t even know her name._

Papyrus put Sans down and pressed his hands on his shoulders. “ARE YOU READY, BROTHER?”

“yea.”

“YOU SHOULDN’T BE SO SCARED TO SAY SOME LINES IN FRONT OF SO… SO MANY PEOPLE.”

“uhhh… ‘m not scared. really, ‘m okay.”

Sans’s fear meter was all screwed up anyway. Talking in front of a crowd of silly-looking monsters in even more silly-looking costumes wasn’t going to be the most terrifying experience he had endured.

“STAY CALM! YOU CAN DO THIS!”

“you sure you’re not the scared one, bro?”

“DON’T SPOUT GIBBERISH, BROTHER! I’M PERFECTLY FINE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS NOT SCARED! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS _NEVER_ SCARED!”

Sans pinched his cheekbone to cheer him up. “don’t worry, pap… ‘s alright to be scared, sometimes. but i know you’ll do good.”

The announcer said their names aloud, along with the characters they were cosplaying as, and all the color drained from Papyrus’s face. He stiffened and stared at the stage’s curtains as if they had been covered in snakes.

“pap?”

Papyrus didn’t answer. He was shaking his head. “I… I don’t know if I can do it.”

“what? the great papyrus isn’t scared of anythin’, remember?” said Sans, frowning. “what’s wrong, now?”

Papyrus made a step backwards, but Sans blocked his way and gave him a little push with blue magic - sometimes that stuff was actually good for something.

Papyrus found himself at the center of the stage, completely overcome by stage fright, looking at the cheering crowd with a terrified expression.

Sans waited for him to say his lines, so that Sans could do a dramatic entrance, but Papyrus seemed too absorbed by his fear to do anything.

“c’mon, paps… say somethin’! anythin’!”

Sans realized that his brother wasn’t going to act, so he decided to enter the scene as well. He wielded his confetti gun and pointed it towards Papyrus.

“muahahah!” Sans exclaimed, in his loudest and most intimidating voice, repeating the lines written by Papyrus. He didn’t sound very scary, but, maybe, if he believed it enough, the audience was going to do the same. “you’re in great danger, supermonster! for i, the majestic and very human lord pmorzov, am going to blast you out of existence with this very powerful laser gun!”

Sans shoot the confetti gun towards the audience and they gasped, as white magic fell on their heads like glowing snow. Then they cheered, clapping like crazy.

“what are you going to do about this, supermonster? are you going to let me destroy monsterkind or will you try to stop me? for i warn you, if you put yourself in my way, i am going to annihilate you first!”

Papyrus looked at Sans, and the encouraging expression of his brother loosened him up a little.

_c’mon, you can do it._

“Lord P-Pmorzov,” said Papyrus, tormenting nervously his hands. “I… um… I am not going to watch this happen!” He became braver and smiled brightly, materializing a sword made of bone. “THE GREAT SUPERMONSTER IS VERY ALTRUISTIC AND DOESN’T CARE IF HE DIES FOR MONSTERKIND! I WILL STOP YOU, FIEND!”

Sans smiled as well. “oh, my god, you’re so cool… i mean… you’re going down, supermonster! take this!”

He shot the confetti gun, and Papyrus dodged with skill; after a few fake combat poses, Sans found his ribcage under Papyrus’s left boot.

Papyrus took the confetti gun from his hand and waved it in the air, while pointing the bone sword under Sans’s chin.

The audience cheered and Papyrus took the applause. He looked so happy and accomplished.

Sans smiled as well. Maybe even he could do something useful for Hoping Day… just for once.

However, Sans’s smile drooped when he saw something in the cheering crowd. Behind the audience, there was a shadow with purple eyes, looming over it. It was much taller than the other monsters and it was unsettlingly still; it just stood there, looking at Sans, without making a noise.

The little skeleton recognized the cracks on its face, and his hands covered in cold sweat.

“ **ESCAPE UNTIL YOU CAN**.”

Sans could hear the shadow’s voice as if it had been whispering inside his skull.

The little skeleton’s breathing had gotten faster, and he couldn’t take his eye lights away from the shadow, even though it made his magic recoil in fear.

“ **TAKE YOURSELF OUT OF THE CIRCLE, BEFORE IT CLOSES**.”

Sans covered his non-existent ears with his bony hands and finally managed to close his eye sockets. He was just daydreaming. The shadow wasn’t really there. Sans was just seeing and hearing things, that was all.

_go away, please… go away… leave me alone…_

“ **I’M JUST TRYING TO HELP YOU, SANS**.”

“no, you’re not. you’re not. you’re a liar, you’ve always been a liar!”

Sans felt a hand on his shoulder and he wheezed, opening his eye sockets. He looked at the crowd. There was no sign of the shadow. It had gone away.

Papyrus took Sans’s hand and helped him up to his feet. “BROTHER, WHAT’S THE MATTER? YOU GOT STIFF ALL OF A SUDDEN…”

“n-nothin’,” said Sans, giving a quivering grin to his brother. “’s just… i thought i had seen somethin’, and i got scared for a second.”

The crowd was still cheering, as if nothing had happened.

_was i hallucinatin’?_

Sans had told himself that yes, it had been a hallucination, but another part of his mind was thinking that it had felt way too real…

Papyrus dragged his brother away from the spotlight.

“wait… where’re we goin’?” asked Sans, going back to reality. “don’t we have to stay to see who’s the winner?”

“YES, BUT…”

Papyrus looked behind his shoulders to make sure that no one could hear them, and he made Sans sit on a rock to look at him in the eye sockets.

“WHAT HAPPENED, BEFORE?”

“nothin’, really. i told you, i was watching the crowd, and then… i saw somethin’.”

Papyrus’s eyelids narrowed. “YOU SAW… SOMETHING.”

“y-yea.”

“AND WHAT DID YOU SEE EXACTLY, BROTHER?”

Sans scratched his skull. “uh...” He was still too shaken to think of a good lie – besides, he wasn’t really able to lie to Papyrus when he was looking at him in the face and he had that worried puppy expression. Papyrus wore that face a lot, recently. “i’ve seen the doctor, i think.”

Papyrus furrowed his bony eyebrows. “THE DOCTOR,” he repeated.

“yea. he was just standin’ there… bein’ creepy, like usual. then, he told me that i have to escape before some kinda circle is closed.”

“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?”

Sans breathed in deeply. “i dunno.” He looked away and felt something pinch his eye sockets.

Why did he have to be like this? Sans just wanted to be left in peace. And now, he had to add hallucinations to his already terrible CV.

Papyrus knew that Sans was more afraid than he let on, so he sat by his side and passed an arm around his shoulders.

“EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT, BROTHER.”

Sans couldn’t contain a little, slightly hysterical laugh. “if you say so. i hoped the doctor would leave me be, after all this time… but it turns out i can’t even have some fun with my brother, since that bastard pops out of nowhere to ruin every goddamn day.”

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? HE DIDN’T RUIN ANYTHING!”

Sans frowned and looked at his brother. He was about to speak, but Papyrus shushed him with a pat on his head.

“THE COSPLAY WENT GREAT! AS YOU SAW, EVERYONE WAS EXTREMELY DELIGHTED BY MY PERFORMANCE! AND, OF COURSE, BROTHER…” Papyrus gave Sans a warm smile. “… THANK YOU FOR ENCOURAGING ME, BEFORE. I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAD GOTTEN INTO ME. I FELT ALL WEIRD…”

Sans smiled back, and some of his worry melted away. “it’s called stage fright, bro. don’t worry, everyone gets it. but you were really great in the end… not that i had doubts about it.”

Papyrus chuckled. “YOU WERE ACCEPTABLE TOO.”

“only acceptable? i gave my best human impression! wasn’t i _impressive_ , at least?”

Papyrus was about to say something, but his face scrunched-up, when he understood the joke.

“I WAS ABOUT TO COMPLIMENT YOU, BROTHER, BUT I SEE THAT YOU PREFER TO DWELL IN YOUR SELF-MADE COFFIN OF BAD JOKES. EXTREMELY SHAMEFUL TO RUIN THIS MOMENT OF BROTHERLY BONDING WITH YOUR PUNS.”

“what can i say. it was my turn to ruin the moment.” Sans was already feeling better, though. For an instant, the paranoia lurking in the back of his mind had left place to a feeling of serenity. He was always happy when he made something for his brother.

“YOU _ALWAYS_ RUIN THE MOMENT! I DID IT ONLY ONCE... YOU ARE THE ONE WHO OWES ME! ANYWAYS… WHAT I WANTED TO SAY IS… THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME. AND DON’T BE AFRAID. WHETHER IT IS HALLUCINATIONS OR DOCTORS, THE GREAT PAPYRUS WILL PROTECT YOU, SANS.”

Was it possible to love his brother more than this?

“thank you, bro. i really ‘preciate it.”


	9. On the happiest day (1/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans receives a call in the middle of the night from a scared child, and he and Papyrus have to act like responsible adults, for once. It is difficult to say if they will be able to help, though...
> 
> (I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in quite some time, usually I post my works first on Deviantart - at dyonisia96 -, and sometimes I forget to post them here as well T-T I'm still writing this story, of course. In fact, it's already finished, and I'm already writing what happens next with Asriel as Flowey :) But, for now, I'll leave you to enjoy the last chapters.)

It was three in the morning, when Sans’s phone rang. The little skeleton jolted awake, his soul giving a hard thump in his chest.

He put a hand on his ribcage to calm down and looked at the phone with furrowed eyebrows. Who the hell was calling him at such an hour?

Sans grimaced. It was an unknown number. He wasn’t sure it was a good idea to pick up, but he did it anyway. Maybe it was an ad for sleeping pills. It would’ve been hilarious.

“hello?” Sans whispered, voice low to not wake up Papyrus. Not that his cell-phone ringtone had been that quiet.

“Sans!” cried a tiny voice, almost unrecognizable.

“… asriel?”

“You have to come here, please!”

“why? what’s happenin’?”

Asriel’s voice broke. “It’s Chara! She’s… she’s in pain and… she needs help!”

“what the-“

“Sans, I’m begging you! I don’t know what to do!”

“uh… um… okay. okay, i’ll be there right away. where are you?”

“In our room.”

“okay. just give me a minute.”

Sans put his phone in a pocket and wore a jumper on top of his pajamas.

When his skull emerged from the neck of the jumper, Sans saw the door open.

“BROTHER! YOU KNOW I HAVE MY BEAUTY SLEEP TO ACCOMPLISH! PLEASE, PUT ON HEADPHONES, AT LEAST.” Papyrus was wearing his pajamas covered with a stamp of roaring, tiny Godzillas, and he was holding the bone plushie. He looked sleepy and irritated, but his stare became more lucid, when he noticed Sans’s alarmed expression. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

Sans mumbled something incomprehensible, trying to take some time. He had to think of a good lie. He didn’t want to drag his brother into this.

“uh… ‘m just… i couldn’t sleep, so i thought i could go out and… yanno, watch the ceiling for a bit. i put on the jumper so i won’t be cold, and you won’t have anythin’ to nag me about! makin’ progress with the whole ‘take care of yourself” thing, see?” Sans gave Papyrus his best lazy grin, hoping that it wasn’t quivering too much. “go back to sleep, bro. i didn’t mean to wake you up. everythin’s okay.”

Papyrus’s eyebrows narrowed. “HM. AND WHY DID YOUR PHONE SCREECH THAT LOUD, BEFORE? I HEARD YOU TALKING WITH SOMEONE. WHO CALLED YOU?”

__shit._ _

“i was just talkin’ in my sleep like always. my phone rang because i was… uh… i forgot to put it on silent mode, ‘t was just a text message.” Sans patted Papyrus’s arm. “go take your beauty nap, now. big sansy will just go take some fresh air.”

Sans felt Papyrus’s stare on him all the way towards the door. It was like his eye lights were digging a hole in Sans’s skull.

“IF YOU SAY SO, SANS.”

The little skeleton opened the door and turned the angle to shortcut to the palace. “don’t wait for me, bro. i’ll be out for a while. i just need…”

“SOME ‘FRESH AIR’, YES. BECAUSE YOU LOVE __SOOO__ MUCH TO GO OUTSIDE, RIGHT? AND I WHO THOUGHT YOU WERE A RECLUSIVE COUCH CREATURE.”

“y-yea… i’d say i got a change of heart, but i don’t have one, so… heh… g’night.”

Sans felt his magic wrap his body. He was half through the shortcut, when something grabbed his arm. A moment later, he was in Asriel and Chara’s room, and a heavy, bony weight was squishing him on the carpet.

“SANS, YOU LIAR! THIS IS NOT SNOWDIN’S FOREST! WHERE DID YOU…” Papyrus’s voice extinguished, when he saw an extremely confused Asriel staring back at him. The goat monster’s muzzle was covered in tears, and his eyes were tired and scared. “H-hi, your majesty. I have the feeling I’m intruding in something important. I’m very sorry, my brother was being mysterious and I thought he was hiding things from me again, so I… um…  might have followed him against his will.”

“ _ _mmmmffffffnn__!”

“Oh. Sorry, brother. I didn’t mean to squish you.”

Papyrus got up and Sans gasped for air, emerging from the carpet. He coughed some carpet wool and sat on his heels.

“’m sorry, asriel,” he said. “’m bringin’ my bro home, if ya don’t want to…”

“No… no, it’s okay,” the kid whispered. He couldn’t bear looking at them, so he focused back on Chara. He seemed to be on a whole other plane of existence, as if what happened around him was like a hazed dream. “You can stay. Just, please… if you know a way to help her, do something.”

Sans and Papyrus gave each other a look, not sure about what to do. Then the small skeleton sighed and sat by Asriel’s side. “lemme take a look at her.”

The prince moved to let Sans lower Chara’s covers. The human child was tightly enveloped in them, and her body was shaken by strong shivers. Her face was pale and her lips livid. Cold sweat had soaked her pajamas.

Sans put a hand on her forehead, and she sighed in relief. His bones felt warm, compared to her freezing body. However, even though she was feeling as if there weren’t enough covers in the world to warm her up, she was having a high fever.

Sans nervously scratched his arm. His memory had more holes than a mole-infested field and, back in his science days, he hadn’t been a doctor of the medical kind. Physics wasn’t going to make Chara feel better, and Sans didn’t have any healing magic. What to do?

“maybe we should call toriel?” whispered the little skeleton. “she’s got a ton of healin’ magic.”

“N-no…”

Everyone turned towards Chara. The kid had opened her eyes a little, and she was looking at them.

“Don’t call her… don’t call anyone…”

She recognized Sans and grimaced.

“Wh… why are you here…?” She weakly smacked Sans’s hand away from the covers. “Go away… stupid bag of bones...”

Sans felt a little relieved. She couldn’t be that ill, if her attitude was still there. Chara had told him once that humans became sick from time to time because of bacteria and viruses. Maybe she just had some flu: high fever, shivers, weakness… flu could fit those symptoms, right? People had flu all the time.

Monster didn’t have that problem, they only had to worry about their souls and about how to keep their magic healthy. It was more on the emotional side, than the biological. They were made of magic, not of muscles and bones… not in a strictly human way.

“WHAT DO WE DO, BROTHER?” asked Papyrus, trying to whisper, but failing miserably. He was tormenting his plushie. Seeing someone that ill made Papyrus deeply uncomfortable. He always felt a bit too much for other people, even for the ones he didn’t know that deeply. “THIS ISN’T RIGHT. THERE MUST BE A CURE.”

Sans scratched his skull. “maybe i know someone who can help her.”

“Really?” asked Asriel, cleaning his muzzle from tears.

“I said… don’t call anyone… what the hell… is wrong with you?” whispered Chara. She tried to give him one of her cold stares, but she only managed to look even more sick. “It’s… fine. I’m feeling… fine.”

“No, you’re not! You told me you weren’t in pain!” sobbed Asriel, torn between anger and worry. “If you don’t want to call mom and dad, at least let’s see what they know!”

Sans witnessed the scene in silence, his eye lights going from Asriel to Chara. Something was going on there. Maybe Chara was just trying to not worry people about her having the flu, and Asriel was angry because of that, and nothing else.

__yea… nothing else._ _

Sans felt something grab his jumper and he lifted his gaze. Papyrus was staring at him, still uncomfortable, but determined to make things better.

“IF THE HUMAN CREATURE DOESN’T WANT TO CALL HER PARENTS AND WE’RE THE ONLY RESPONSIBLE ADULTS HERE, WE MUST DO SOMETHING, BROTHER. WHO DO YOU KNOW WHO CAN HELP?”

Sans smiled a little. There was only one responsible adult in that room, and it sure as hell wasn’t Sans. But he could still be useful. Maybe.

“i was thinkin’ about callin’ dr.frake. she’s real nice, and if chara’s afraid of doctors, dr.frake’s already dealt with my paranoia.” Sans turned towards Chara and gave her a worried smile. “what do you think about it?”

The human child gritted her teeth. “What is it… that you don’t understand… of ‘I don’t want… your help’?”

Sans hesitated, then he delicately took one of her hands between his. “ya don’t hafta be ashamed. everyone gets ill, sometimes… hell, i know ‘m sick all the time. just let me call some backup, ‘kay?”

Chara stared blankly at him, then she turned her head to her side. “It’s meaningless to call for help.”

Sans frowned. Meaningless?

He decided he was going to call for Dr.Frake anyway and got up to do so, but Chara held his hand, not letting go. Her grip was weak, but Sans felt as if it had been made of lead.

“Please, don’t go.”

Sans’s features softened. “chara, ‘m sorry, but i hafta call a doctor. we can’t deal with this on our own.”

“No, it’s… fine. Call that doctor… but don’t leave me alone. Stay.”

Sans’s throat tightened and his soul gave a little, painful twitch. He automatically sat back on the bed and caressed the top of Chara’s hand.

“okay. okay, i’ll stay, if ya really want to.” Sans turned towards Papyrus and gave him his phone. “please, call dr.frake. she’s right there in my contacts.”

Papyrus nodded and exited the room. He closed the door behind his back and Sans sighed deeply.

“there we go,” he said. “you’ll feel better soon, you’ll see.”

Chara avoided his stare. She seemed angry for something, and she kept staring at Asriel.

“your bro just wants ya to feel better. ‘m glad he called us,” Sans said, trying to ease the tension. “you don’t hafta do everything alone. let others help ya, ‘kay? ‘m happy to return the favor, if i can. yanno, i kinda owe you, since you saved my life, with the… um… cake episode.”

Chara laughed darkly and coughed, covering her mouth with a hand. “Me and Asriel were the ones… who made the cake. It was our fault you were poisoned. You don’t owe me anything.”

Sans didn’t know how to answer that. It wasn’t really a matter of owing her something, in the end. He just wanted to help her, and giving Chara some comfort was something that he could do, unlike healing her or making her open up with people.

Asriel was less lost now that Sans was with them, and he cuddled on Chara’s side, putting his head on her chest. The human child seemed annoyed by that gesture, but, in the end, she gave in and let him stay.

Sans smiled at that scene, and his chest felt warm. It was nice to see brother and sister getting along, even though it was evident they had quarreled before.

“how do ya feel, now? are ya in pain?”

Sans gently touched Chara’s belly to see if it was giving her trouble, and she gasped, almost kicking him away.

“’m sorry, ‘m sorry!” cried Sans, his eye sockets wide. “i didn’t know it hurt that badly.”

Thank God they had called a doctor. Chara had a higher tolerance to pain than Sans had thought. Maybe if she kept still she didn’t feel it, but, when she moved or someone touched her, it spiked. Anyway, she was worringly good at hiding her suffering.

“You told me you were feeling better!” said Asriel, in an accusatory tone. His eyes filled with tears again and he had to get up. “Stop lying to me!”

He started to walk around the room’s perimeter, not able to be still anymore.

Chara ignored his outburst and looked at Sans, who had an extremely worried expression on his face.

“It’s okay. I’m fine now,” she whispered. “Sorry I scared you.”

Sans’s breathing calmed down and she was the one who grabbed his hand, that time.

“do ya have any idea what your problem is? is it flu?”

Chara looked away. “I don’t think so.”

 “is it… how was it called…” Sans tried to remember something about human anatomy. He had read about that sickness on a manual, in the librarby. Monsters had extremely weird ideas about humans and most of them didn’t even remember how they were made, since the witnesses of the war were almost all dead, but… Sans was sure he had read something about this. “appendix… appendicitis? it can be dangerous, if it’s not treated well, right? and it comes with strong abdominal pain.”

Chara seemed impressed, even though the pain was starting to get through her nonchalant attitude. “I didn’t know you could be bothered to learn about human anatomy, Sans. It’s a really weird thing to be interested in.”

Sans felt the urge to tell her to shut up and be serious about this. Why was she so snarky? Well, snarkier than the usual.

“chara, please… this is important…”

He didn’t have the chance to go in depth with his pleas, because the door opened and Papyrus got inside the room.

“THE DOCTOR IS ON THE WAY!” he exclaimed triumphantly, holding the phone in the air as if it had been his booty. Sans gave him a look and Papyrus shrunk down. “Sorry. No shouting, right?”

“right.”

Papyrus kneeled at Sans’s side and gave Chara an encouraging smile.

“How do you feel, human child? Does it hurt a lot?”

Chara laughed weakly. “You two really are brothers! You make the same stupid questions.”

Papyrus looked Sans in search of some support and his brother smiled sheepishly, as if to say “don’t mind her, she’s always like this”.

“Ehm… thanks, human! I am happy to have something in common with Sans. However, we are different in so many ways! For example, I am not a lazy slob. Sans refuses to eat the vegetables I prepare for him too and thinks that I don’t notice when he makes them disappear with his vanishing thing…”

Papyrus’s chattering distracted Chara from her pain and she smiled while listening to him, even though her eyes were glassy. She had become even paler and her face had taken an almost grey hue.

It wasn’t encouraging.

Sans realized that he was biting the tips of his phalanges out of nervousness and he stopped. He was more worried than what he could’ve imagined. He realized how much he cared about that weird kid and, for a moment, Sans experimented a fraction of what Papyrus felt when Sans tried to spare his feelings or didn’t tell him the whole truth, despite his promise.

****Maybe you could take a peek. Just a little look. She won’t even notice your presence in her conscience right now. She’s in pain, remember?** **

Sans grabbed the cover with a hand, holding it tight. It was for her own good, right?

But Sans already knew that he couldn’t do it. He had told Asgore that he wasn’t going to spy Chara’s intentions, not even if it would’ve made things safer for her, because it would’ve been a violation of her free will. She had decided to not tell the truth, and she had the right to keep it hidden, if she wanted. But it was so frustrating to be able to do something for her wellbeing, and knowing that he couldn’t.

Sans sighed deeply and released his grip on the cover. He couldn’t do anything, besides staying there with Chara and hoping that Dr.Frake was going to arrive soon. Sans would’ve taken a shortcut right to her house, if he had known where it was, but he couldn’t even do that.

“Sans?” whispered Chara.

The little skeleton blinked, wiping away his frenetic thoughts, and he smiled to her. “yea?”

Chara grabbed his hand. Her grip had gotten weaker.

“I’m sorry.”

“for what?”

She took a deep breath in. “For all the times I’ve tried to screw you up. I didn’t really mean to. I just… I just wanted to help monsters.”

“you know i already forgave you. ‘m not angry with ya.”

Chara looked away. “I know. You’re too lazy to be angry for long.”

Sans chuckled, but his eye sockets stung. “yea. you’ve gotten pretty good at readin’ me, huh? not as good as pap, but…”

Chara was shaken by a violent series of coughs and, when she looked at her hand, she got even paler. Her palm was covered in red stains.

“IS THAT…?” started Papyrus.

“it’s blood!” Sans massaged Chara’s back to soothe her pain. “hang in there! i gotcha!”

Sans tapped into his magic and tried to give it a different form, thinking about green magic. However, all the power that he was able to muster up was useless, if he wasn’t able to heal.

Sans put a hand on Chara’s throat, and his fingers gave a few flashes of green. It was such a feeble attempt, and yet that made Sans feel as if he had been spiraling down, tons of magical energy leaving his body.

That wasn’t his field, and he knew it. When a monster tried to use magic out of their league, it required far more effort, and sometimes it could be a very dangerous thing to do.

Sans felt dizzy and his hand slid off Chara’s neck, falling in the covers.

“Sans!” croaked Chara, massaging her throat. She looked a tiny bit more colorful, and her throat wasn’t aching anymore. “What did you do?”

“BROTHER! OH, PLEASE, JUST ASK ME, NEXT TIME. YOU KNOW YOU CAN’T DO HEALING MAGIC.”

“He was trying… to heal me?” whispered the kid.

“YES. SANS, ARE YOU WITH US?”

Sans, who had slumped against his brother, barely had the energy to answer.

“uh? yea… yea, ‘m okay. don’t worry. chara’s the one who’s sick.”

Sans took a piece of monster candy from his pocket and put it in his mouth. He instantly felt less lightheaded and he was able to stand on his own.

“there. everythin’s fine, now.”

Sans realized that another set of hands was sustaining him and he saw Asriel’s muzzle peeking from above his shoulder.

“Sans, be careful, please. Don’t make yourself sick too.”

“sorry. i kinda panicked, when i saw the blood,” Sans said. “this is… this is worse than i thought... we need someone to heal chara while we wait for dr.frake to arrive.”

Asriel bit his claws, looking at his sister. “I’m still a kid. I can’t heal that much. My magic isn’t even formed yet.”

Both Sans and Asriel looked at Papyrus.

“bro… can ya…?”

The tall skeleton puffed his chest. “OF COURSE! You are very lucky that the Great Papyrus is a master in healing magic! I will shoo the pain away!”

He moved Sans to the side and sat in front of Chara. “NOW, HUMAN, PREPARE TO BE HEALED UP!”

“No… don’t… I don’t need-“

Papyrus ignored her protests and held her hands. A low buzz filled the room and green light emanated from Papyrus’s fingers. It was so strong that Sans and Asriel had to cover their eyes for a moment, before they got used to the light.

“Woah!” whispered the small goat monster, astonished. “It’s incredible! I didn’t know your brother was so good at magic!”

“people don’t give him enough credit,” whispered Sans, with a smile. “i tell everyone how cool he is, but they always shrug it off. now you can spread the word too, asriel!”

Asriel smiled as well and looked at Chara. The kid had regained some strength, and she was using it to try to free herself from Papyrus’s hold.

“Let me go, bonehead! You don’t understand! Why can’t you just leave me alone?!”

She finally managed to land a hit on Papyrus and she slipped from his hands. Chara fell off the bed and tried to go towards the door. However, she only managed to make it halfway, before falling to her knees, coughing harder than before.

“Chara!”

Asriel ran towards her and Sans stood in the middle, unsure who he had to help first.

“Don’t worry, brother! It’s just a scratch! Nothing some monster food can’t heal.”

Sans made sure that he wasn’t playing it down and checked him.

“SANS, OH MY GOD! I TOLD YOU I AM FINE! LOOK AFTER THE KID!”

Sans, whose soul had been pounding heavily, relaxed a little in seeing that his brother was indeed fine. Chara’s hit had barely scraped his HP.

Then Sans ran towards the kid and passed an arm around her shoulders, in order to help Asriel bring her to the bed.

Chara’s lips were stained with blood.

“I DON’T UNDERSTAND!” exclaimed Papyrus. “I just healed her! Maybe I didn’t do it right?”

Sans shook his head. “i don’t… i don’t think this’s your fault, bro. somethin’s not right here. this… doesn’t look like a common illness.”

Chara was now too weak to answer him, so Sans turned towards Asriel.

The little skeleton had just had a hunch.

“what’s really happenin’ here, asriel?”

The goat monster gulped and looked at his paws, not saying anything.

Sans covered his face with a hand. “you were the one who called us. we can’t help, if you don’t tell the truth!”

Asriel stared at Chara and sighed deeply. “It’s just… it’s probably the flu, like you said.”

Sans felt a wave of frustration.

“fine, then. i’ll go tell your parents. should’ve done it right away.”

“No, please! Don’t! Chara doesn’t want-“

“it doesn’t matter now! she’s unconscious! ‘m sorry i always have to be the snitch here, but i‘ll do what’s right. if paps can’t heal her, toriel and asgore will be able to do so. if that doesn’t work either, they’ll cure her until dr.frake arrives.”

Sans walked towards the door, and Asriel hugged his left arm, trying to pin him down.

“NO! Don’t!”

“let me go, asriel!”

Sans’s magic acted before he could think about it: when he moved his left hand to push the kid away, Asriel was sent towards the bed, following his now blue soul. He received a strong hit to his back, and Sans froze.

He hadn’t meant to hurt the kid.

Sans looked Asriel with a knot in his throat. He opened his mouth to say sorry, but he wasn’t able to say anything.

He just looked down for a moment, while Asriel was getting up with a scared look on his muzzle.

“p-pap, watch the kids,” was all that Sans was able to whisper, before exiting the room.


	10. On the happiest day (2/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans understands what it's going on with the kids, but he might be a little too late.

He almost ran in the corridor, before he remembered that he could shortcut where he needed.

__‘m an idiot._ _

Still feeling uneasy for what had just happened with Asriel, Sans appeared in front of the Dreemurs’ room. A loud snoring was coming from inside, and the lights were off.

Sans knocked to announce his presence.

The snoring stopped.

“Who… who’s there?” asked Asgore’s sleepy voice.

Sans suddenly felt ashamed. He shouldn’t have waited so long before calling Chara’s parents. He had been stupid, trusting the kid… he should’ve known that Chara almost never told the truth, when it came about her own wellbeing. And the deep fear that her condition could be, somehow, self-induced, was gnawing at his soul.

“it’s sans,” the little skeleton said, his voice hesitant and rough.

“Sans?” That voice was higher-pitched and softer. It was Toriel’s voice.

“’m so sorry to come here and bother you at this hour, b-but… it’s an emergency. chara’s not… she’s not feelin’ well… and it’s really bad.”

The door swung open with such vehemence that Sans almost fell in the room. One of Asgore’s big paws closed around his body and the little skeleton was lifted in the air, his slippers dangling from his feet.

“Asgore, put him down!” said Toriel, peeking from his side.

The king however was too worried to listen to her, and he walked towards Chara’s room, holding Sans under his arm.

“What’s wrong with her? Do you have any idea?”

“i’ve… we’ve tried everythin’! healin’ magic doesn’t help her that much. it gives her some relief, but it’s not enough. i didn’t know what to do anymore!”

“Wait for me!” cried Toriel, following them closely. She was wearing her night robe and her fur was all ruffled. “Why didn’t you call us before?”

There it was, the fatal question.

“the kid… i thought it wasn’t that bad. __she said__  it wasn’t that bad. i trusted her. i… i should’ve called you before, ‘m so, so sorry. i-i’ve called a doctor, though! she’s goin’ to arrive real soon! she should be on the way-“

“And why did chara call you and not us?” Asgore cut him off.

Sans was feeling more and more terrible. He didn’t want to be the one to explain them that Chara could’ve done __something__ … What she had taken, Sans didn’t know. He had never seen such symptoms; he didn’t know enough about humans to say with certainty what was going on… but his gut feeling told him that it wasn’t accidental. Maybe Chara had taken too much medicine. Or she had eaten something she was allergic to. The possibilities were infinite, and he hoped she hadn’t done it on purpose.

“she seemed… she was… it was asriel the one who called me, not her. she didn’t want to call anyone. and asriel… i guess he called me because he was afraid you’d be angry with chara, if you saw her like this.”

“Why in the world would we be angry with her?” whispered Toriel, passing a paw on her muzzle.

__maybe because this could be a suicide attempt?_ _

Sans tried to say it out loud and with less hurtful words, but nothing came out of his mouth. He kept chocking on the word “suicide”.

And then they reached the room, and that conversation couldn’t go on anymore.

Thank God.

Asgore put Sans on the ground and went towards Chara’s bed. Papyrus was startled by the arrival of the royal couple, and his magic stuttered for a moment. A green stream was abandoning his skeletal hands, entering Chara’s body, but it was far thinner than before.

“Thank you,” said Asgore, in a softer tone. “I’ll take it from here. Just go rest outside, please… you’ve done enough.”

Papyrus nodded sluggishly and struggled to get up. He had used too much magic, and Sans offered him his support. Papyrus was heavy for him, but Sans had to lead him out of the room. They had already intruded enough.

“call us if you need anythin’,” said Sans.

No one answered him. The Dreemurs were all too absorbed by Asgore using his healing magic on Chara.

He was the strongest monster in the Underground. If someone could do it, it was him.

Sans gave a last look to Chara, his soul throbbing around the scar; then he closed the door behind him and his brother.

He accompanied Papyrus towards a bench and helped him sit down.

“Thank you, brother,” whispered the tall skeleton. Papyrus laid down on the bench and put his head on Sans’s lap, using him as a cushion.

Sans caressed his skull.

“how much magic did you use, bro?”

“A little too much... even for the Great Papyrus. The human child… she was getting worse, and I had to do something. However, it was as if her body couldn’t contain the energy. It just went through… I wish I could have done more…”

“you did good, bro. really,” said Sans, putting his forehead on Papyrus’s for a moment. “i wish i had healin’ magic too. i could’ve helped.”

“But you did help, Sans…”

There was no point in arguing with him about how useless Sans was feeling right then. The little skeleton didn’t have the strength to do it.

Sans rummaged in his pajamas’ pockets and found more candy. He mentally thanked the munchies he had at night: he always carried something to eat with him, even in bed.

Sans gave some candy to Papyrus and his brother chewed slowly, with a disgusted expression.

“Gah… this is so sugary. It’s not good for my teeth.”

“just shuddup and eat.”

That was enough to silence Papyrus’s obsession with being healthy, and the brothers stayed in silence for a while.

The night was still. No crickets were singing, and even the buttercups seemed gray. Half of the lanterns that usually enlightened the palace had been turned off. The place looked bleak and empty.

Papyrus was so tired that he had dozed off on Sans’s lap, and the little skeleton kept on caressing his head. That gesture eased his tension, and made him relax as well.

__everythin’s goin’ to be alright. dr.frake’ll arrive soon. we’ll ask the kid what really happened when she feels better. maybe, for once, she’ll talk…_ _

Sans’s eyelids were starting to drop out of exhaustion. Why had he felt the need to heal Chara? That had been a really stupid move. Sans knew he couldn’t do that. He had only managed to tire himself out.

Sans closed his eye sockets and leaned against his brother. Even though Sans was not happy Papyrus had been caught up in all this, he was relieved to have him there.

Sans would’ve been panicking, without his soothing presence.

A few moments later, the little skeleton fell asleep as well, the low hum of his brother’s soul comforting him. Before losing conscience, Sans felt hopeful.

__dr.frake will fix everythin’. she’s a good doctor. she’ll patch chara up._ _

On that thought, the little skeleton slumped on his brother.

 

“Sans. Sans, wake up.”

Someone was shaking his shoulder. Sans blinked and, with an effort, he managed to lift his head.

Two yellow eyes, glistening in the darkness of the garden, were staring at him. “There you are.”

“doctor?” whispered Sans, rubbing his eye sockets to wash away the last remnants of sleep. “sorry, i must’ve fallen asleep. i didn’t even hear ya arrive.”

“Nyeh?” Papyrus opened his eye sockets as well, still sleepy and confused. “Sans, look. The wolf lady is here.”

Sans smiled. “yea, i can see that, bro.”

Dr.Frake sat by their side, the purse with all the medical instruments sitting on her lap.

“so… how’s the kid?”

Dr.Frake hesitated for a moment, her stare distant.

“The human child is in bad conditions.”

Sans’s soul gave a hard thump, and he looked at Papyrus, who had the same shocked expression.

“how… how bad?”

Dr.Frake sighed. “I have never cured a human before. I tried to do my best, and I have called other doctors to help me, but… it doesn’t matter which medicine we give the kid, it’s not going to have the same effects it has on monsters, and therefore it’s very dangerous. Her problem is physical, not magical. But, even though healing magic can come a long way, it can’t fix human illnesses or things that aren’t strictly flesh wounds. Here it’s a matter of her body reacting badly to monster food, from what I can see, or-”

“food,” whispered Sans, all of a sudden.

Dr.Frake and Papyrus both gave him an interrogative stare.

“what if… what if she ate buttercups?” he said, getting off the bench. “i mean, she knew that they were poisonous, right? and… and they’re everywhere, here. even if her parents were keeping an eye on her, she could’ve easily taken some and ate them later, right?”

Dr.Frake’s grip tightened on her bag. “It’s possible, yes. But… whatever she took, we gave her a general antidote. It covers the effects of buttercups as well… it should have made her feel better, by now.” She sighed and passed a hand on her muzzle. “I am afraid our medicine is useless against this. I hope… I just hope we didn’t arrive too late.”

Sans’s shoulders slouched and he sat in the grass. He was sure he had the right hunch. Chara had eaten the buttercups, and Asriel had discovered that she had tried to kill herself.

Maybe he was too scared to tell their parents what had really happened, in order to protect Chara from their anger, or whatever the kids were fearing.

And Chara knew her way with words far too well. She could’ve easily convinced him that he had to keep the secret, after he discovered what she had done, even with the poison devouring her.

__why? why did she do it? she’s just a kid… all she deserved was happiness. why…?_ _

Sans knew that Chara had gone through pretty awful things on the Surface, to make her how she was, but… he had hoped she had started to feel better, between monsters. Maybe the emotional baggage she had been carrying on her tiny shoulders had been heavier than Sans had imagined. Poor kid. Sans was feeling devastated. How could something like that had gone under his radar? And what could he have done to prevent all that from happening?

Sans had talked to Chara, tried to offer her all he could. And yet, nothing had been enough to fill the void in her soul. Not her adoptive parents, not Asriel, and not even her dysfunctional friendship with Sans. But he had truly cared for her. Where had he gone wrong?

In that moment, a slow creaking noise came from the corridors of the palace, reaching the silent garden. A few moments later, other doctors exited the kids’ room, together with Asgore and Toriel. They were chattering softly, and Sans wasn’t able to understand their words, but he didn’t have to struggle that much to imagine their meaning: Toriel was crying, and Asgore’s stare was empty and distant, even though he was responding to the doctors’ questions.

__this can’t be happenin’. this is… this isn’t real._ _

Sans swallowed and he felt Papyrus’s hand on his shoulder, holding tightly. The little skeleton didn’t respond to his affection, too absorbed by the scene unraveling before his eyes. He wanted to look away, but he couldn’t.

It should’ve been a private moment. He didn’t have any right to be there, assisting to a family falling apart.

He didn’t have the right to watch Asgore and Toriel’s sorrow. And Asriel…

__wait. where’s he?_ _

Sans felt a cold shard pierce his soul. A terrible feeling twisting his guts.

Suddenly, the last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

“no… no, no, no!”

He almost fell off the bench because of his hurry and he freed himself from Papyrus’s hold, running towards the kids’ room.

“the kids! you can’t leave them alone!” he shouted with his loudest voice.

The small crowd of people he was trying to push away to reach the room looked at him as if Sans had been a mental case.

The parents were too desperate to pay him much attention, they just stared at him with a confused expression.

“Sans…” Toriel whispered, her voice weak and strained. She looked like a ghost of herself. “What are you…”

Sans tried to push them away, and one of the doctors grabbed his arm, almost hurting him.

“You can’t enter the room. The human child wanted to stay with her brother for a moment-“

“that’s precisely why we gotta go there! they’re goin’ to do somethin’ really stupid, if we don’t stop them! if the kid dies, asriel will take her soul!”

Silence instantly dropped on the small crowd like a heavy cape.

“Sans, please…” Toriel started to sob. “Just leave us alone now…”

Sans felt his soul tighten painfully. He couldn’t even fathom how it could be like to lose a child… but he couldn’t let this happen.

“Chara’s already tried to make me take her soul. This is all a plan of hers! I was stupid, I thought… I actually thought that she had dropped it! We gotta get in the room-“

“Sans, this is a family matter,” said Asgore. Sans had never heard him talk in such an emotionless tone. It was ugly, coming from him. “You heard Toriel. You can go home, now. Your services are no longer required.”

“but-“

“I know Chara. She has promised,” said Toriel, her voice breaking on the child’s name. “She won’t ever do such a thing again.”

“why can’t you see the truth? she’s not who you think she is! but we can prevent her from doing a big mistake!”

“Enough.”

A big, soft paw grabbed Sans and carried him outside. It was Asgore.

Sans had realized that he hadn’t said the nicest thing to a grieving mother, but no one was going to listen, if he didn’t push.

“asgore, please! ‘m sorry, i didn’t mean it like that, but i know that chara’s gonna do it! she thinks she’s in the right, but it’s so dangerous messin’ with souls! there’re things far worse than death, out there! please, asgore, you hafta believe-“

“Sans, I am your friend and I like you, but this is in really poor taste. My child is in there, dying, and I want you to go away right now, if you are going to behave like this. My wife and I don’t need to hear you tell horrible things about Chara when she’s sick.”

Sans wriggled in Asgore’s hold, trying to free himself. Papyrus and Dr.Frake had gotten closer to them, and the tall skeleton was extremely worried.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING? BROTHER?”

Asgore hesitated for a second, realizing that holding Sans like that wasn’t the best thing to do. The little skeleton was really fragile, and one accidental squeeze would’ve been enough to pulverize him; in his anger, Asgore could’ve done that without even noticing.

He put Sans on the ground with an attitude that resembled more his usual kindness, and he let him go.

Sans massaged his ribs with a hand and coughed. Papyrus put a hand on his back to make him feel safe, and he looked at Asgore. He wasn’t angry with him, he understood that the king was going through something terrible, but Papyrus was still very protective of Sans and he didn’t like when people manhandled him. Not one bit. He was the only one who could pick him up! And, maybe, Undyne, on Papyrus’s supervision.

Asgore sighed deeply and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“at least let me stay here! if somethin’ happens-“

Asgore didn’t mind answering him. He was too exhausted for that, and he just walked back towards the kids’ room.

Sans followed soon after, with Papyrus holding his hand. Dr.Frake stopped to talk with the other doctors about what to do next.

Toriel was in front of the kids’ door, working with the doorknob. On her muzzle there was a hint of irritation, on top of the heart-wrenching desperation she had shown before.

“Tori?” asked Asgore. “What’s wrong?”

“Th-the door,” she hissed. “I can’t get it open!”

Asgore furrowed his eyebrows. Toriel wasn’t a weak monster at all. How could she not be able to open a simple wooden door?

Sans, a few meters behind them, assisted the scene with a twinge of worry. His soul skipped a beat, when he noticed a sliver of white light coming through the bottom of the door.

The air was filling with the scent of spent magic. It wasn’t exactly a smell, more like a sort of electricity going from spot to spot, attaching itself to every surface it encountered.

Sans had already felt that kind of magical charge. It had happened in the royal library, what seemed like ages before.

“Asriel, what’s happening in there?” cried Toriel, starting to bang on the door. “Open the door! Now!”

Muffled noises were coming from inside the room, but no clear answer.

“I’ll break it,” said Asgore. He lifted a hand and, with one punch, he went through the wood.

In the same instant the thin barrier separating the kids’ room from the corridor broke down, a stream of white magic invested them. The magic was so dense that it felt like water, and it submerged the whole hallway, carrying all the terrified doctors with it.

Sans and Papyrus, the closest to the magic source after Asgore and Toriel, were invested fully. Sans didn’t have the time to raise any kind of magical defense, and he tried to grab his brother to drag him away from danger, even though there wasn’t anywhere to run to.

A bony body wrapped around Sans’s little frame, and Sans closed his eye sockets, holding his breath, while a wave of white magic carried them in the garden.

They hit a few columns on the way, before landing on a bed of grass and buttercups. The white magic evaporated right away, transforming into small glistening crumbs, while they coughed and sputtered any remains of it.

Sans opened his eye sockets, his body rigid with fear, and he saw Papyrus still above him, trying to prevent anything else from hitting Sans. He had been the one to take the hits on their way there, and the impact with the columns had left him a few scraps on his back. There were red stains on Papyrus’s spine.

Sans was horrified at that sight and he untangled his body from his brother’s. His bony hands were shivering badly, when he caressed Papyrus’s skull.

“pap! pap, are you okay? please, tell me you’re fine!”

Papyrus blinked a few times, a little dizzy. “Yes… I am fine, brother. I just… my back hurts a little. What happened?”

Sans would’ve wanted to answer, but his voice shut off, when he saw an unknown figure floating out of the corridor. Asgore and Toriel were unconscious on the ground, since they had been hit the hardest by white magic, and the creature hovered above them.

“ ** **Are they okay?**** ”

The being’s voice was like an echo of two different voices put together, and Sans recognized both of them.

“ ** **They just fainted. Don’t worry, they’re fine. We have to go, now.**** ”

The creature lifted its gaze and Sans shivered, when their eyes met.

The being resembled Asriel, however it was a little bigger, as if his body had grown up to contain the new energy it had been filled with. His eyes were glistening with both white magic and a strong, red light, oozing from them.

It was unsettling to be stared by a creature that was two people at the same time. They had torn feelings about Sans, but they didn’t lose time exploring them, and went on with their original plan.

The creature moved so fast that a moment later it was gone, as if it had just taken a shortcut.

Sans realized that he was rattling and he tried to gain back control. He got up on wobbly knees. He was the only one who could reach them in time.

“Brother, what are you-“

Sans didn’t leave Papyrus the time to grab him this time and took a shortcut right to where he knew the kids had gone.

He reappeared in the ominous hall that lead to the barrier, where the walls of the palace left the place to stone and minerals that glistened in the dark.

Sans had seen the barrier only a few times, when he had been a kid, and the orphanage’s school had brought them there for an educational trip.

Sans remembered enough of the room to reach it, but he had completely forgotten about the crushing feeling to be so close to such a powerful magical source.

The barrier hummed with power at regular intervals, rings of pure magic going through it. That sigil extended itself for a few miles, and it should’ve lead right to the surface of Mount Ebott. If it had been only a few meters long, maybe its magic wouldn’t have had a strong enough effect to be dangerous… but it was so long, that every monster that had entered it and tried to walk until the exit had died in the process. The magic of the mages that had sacrificed their soul to seal them underground had been so strong that even after hundreds of years the barrier it was still solid as the first day.

Sans’s soul was really weak, and even staying close to the barrier was enough to give him nausea.

However, his objective was still in his reach, and he grabbed it with all his might, before it could escape.

His magic wrapped around Asriel and Chara’s soul, turning it blue. The soul came out of their chest, humming between white and red.

They turned slowly, and Sans realized how pathetic his magic was compared to theirs. Not even the doctor had been strong enough to move under the grip of blue magic when Sans had pushed it enough, and now he wasn’t holding back a single crumb of power.

“ ** **Sans**** ,” they said, getting closer. They were moving more slowly, but it was still alarmingly fast. “ ** **Let us go. Everything will be better, from now on.**** ”

“why… why did you do this? we don’t even know if there’s a way to get you back to normal! and chara’s body… it can’t contain a soul anymore! she won’t have a body to go back to!”

Sans’s breath became haggard, his forehead covered by pearls of sweat. It was so hard to keep them in check. His soul was squirming and throbbing hard in his chest because of all the magic that was exiting it - and it wasn’t nearly enough to keep them pinned.

“ ** **Sans, we don’t understand you. Didn’t you want to see the stars before you died?”****

Sans’s soul sank somewhere in the ground. Chara actually remembered that stupid, sentimental thing he had said once?

****“Chara told you that there were more important things than her life… she’s happy to do this. We’re happy.”** **

“but everyone else is miserable now! even if you break the barrier, chara’s not going to come back… and neither asriel is! i never wanted chara to die… this shouldn’t have happened. i… i should’ve watched over you better. you’re just kids… you had a whole life in front of you…”

At that point, it would’ve been better if Chara had used Sans, instead of Asriel. Maybe he could’ve given her stronger powers to play with, but at least Asriel would still have been with his parents.

God, losing two kids in one day… and now having them mashed together in that creature… Sans couldn’t imagine anything more horrifying than that.

“ ** **Stop saying that all the time!**** ”

With a single motion, they freed themselves from Sans’s hold, and the little skeleton found his soul turned red instead. He felt a strong heat in his bones, making him feel incredibly weak. He fell to his knees, and then he slumped on the ground, breathing heavily. That devouring red was similar to when he had felt determination stirring in his own soul… but now he was held in it by someone else, and Sans felt as if the temperature of his body had just been cranked up to boiling.

“ ** **Just because we’re kids, it doesn’t mean we don’t know what’s right!**** ** _ ** _You_**_** ** **could’ve done this! I offered you the chance, but you didn’t take it, because you’re a coward!**** ”

So something of Chara’s individuality had survived. That was definitely her.

Sans couldn’t even lift his head. He was so weak. He felt like when he had almost fallen down, back in the labs.

An invisible force lifted him in the air, and Sans, for a brief moment, feared for his life, through the haze induced by the being’s magic.

“ ** **You could’ve helped me… us. But you didn’t. What you can do now is just step aside, Sans. After all, it’s not like you can stop us.**** ”

The red hold tightened and Sans wheezed. There wasn’t enough air in the room. It was too hot and bright, and it hurt. Sans’s fingers dug in his chest, in an instinctive attempt at freeing himself.

“ ** **Chara, that’s enough! You’re hurting him. We’re already done here; we have things to do. Just let him go!**** ”

The being’s hold stayed strong for a moment longer, then it faded, and Sans’s skull lolled on his chest. His body fell on the ground, his limbs in weird angles. He looked like a broken doll.

Sans didn’t feel anything at all anymore, just a deep drowsiness. The burning heat had left the place to a comforting warmth, dragging him down.

A pair of white and red eyes stared at him, and a soft index caressed his cheekbone.

“ ** **Relax, Sans. We’ll be back soon with the human souls, and everything will be okay. Why don’t you take a little nap, in the meanwhile? That’s a thing you’re really good at. We’ll wake you when we get back, so you won’t do anything stupid while we’re away… like trying to cross the Barrier.**** ”

Sans tried to speak, but he was able to emit only a feeble moan. He felt a light touch on his forehead, together with some magic being poured into him, and he lost his senses.


End file.
